DEPUTY Minister of the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services Stella Ndabani-Abrahams handed over a cyber lab to Sifonondile Senior Secondary School pupils last Friday.
The lab was equipped with 26 tablets, a desktop computer, internet connection and an interactive whiteboard which is an instructional tool that allows computer images to be displayed on a board using a digital projector.
Ndabani-Abrahams said the event was also a late celebration of International Girls in Information and Computers Technologies (ICT), an initiative which aims to create a global environment empowering girls and young women to view and experience technology in a new light. The project is supported by all International Telecommunications Union (ITU) member states.
This, she said, was a great opportunity to skill those who were computer illiterate, and was a platform for girls to consider careers in the growing field of information and communication technologies (ICTs).
“We worked with our partner, Vodacom. Pupils can also use the lab to look for career opportunities and bursaries. By 2020 we want the rest of South Africa to be connected. We have already started a programme called SA connect.”
The deputy minister said they were currently busy in OR Tambo municipality. “In KSD and Mhlontlo there are about a thousand schools connected. This year we will continue with all the municipalities in OR Tambo and move on to other municipalities next year. We start with the biggest municipalities in each province.”
The tablets were important for pupils to find knowledge that can develop their lives and to solve challenges they faced in the education system. The equipment contains the grade 8 to 12 curriculum.
Chris Hani special programmes unit portfolio head Nonzukiso Matiwane said after schools in the district received poor results last year, the municipality took it upon itself to make an impact on education.
At the beginning of the year we brought cleaning materials and garden tools and teachers requested computers. We did not have the means to get them computers so we forwarded the request to Chris Hani Development Agency who linked us to this programme.
She said Sifonondile was the best performing disadvantaged school in Cala.
“We want these schools to be able to compete at the same level as those that are well developed. We believe in poverty and unemployment alleviation. Education is key because once you empower a person their future becomes bright.”
