Barry Streek
A plea by an Inkatha Freedom Party MP for the teaching of information technology to be given priority presents difficulties because 50% of South Africa’s 37 000 schools do not even have electricity, Minister of Education Kader Asmal has told Parliament.
He also said 60% of the schools do not have telephone connections, which would be essential for the use of the Internet. “If a classroom does not have electricity, you will not get IT,” he said at a briefing about his department’s policies.
Asmal also said that 24% of schools do not have clean water.
His remarks came in response to a plea by the IFP’s Farouk Cassim for South Africa to follow the example of United States President Bill Clinton, who decided that information technology should be given priority in USschools.
Cassim said technology was the language of the future in education and he urged the government to take action in this regard.
He agreed, however, that a lack of electricity at schools was, indeed, a major problem.
ENDS
— End —