President Thabo Mbeki has launched the first of South Africa’s six new e-Schools — schools equipped with a computer lab stocked with servers, PCs, printers, faxes, scanners and copiers linked via wireless connectivity.
The launch took place at Maripe Secondary School in the Eastern Cape as part of the pan-African Nepad e-Schools demo project.
The Nepad e-Schools initiative was formally launched during the African Summit of the World Economic Forum in June 2003 and aims to transform 600 000 African schools into e-Schools by 2015.
Egypt, Uganda, Ghana, Lesotho, Kenya and Rwanda have already launched similar projects, while Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria and Senegal are also taking part.
‘By effectively addressing the challenges of imparting modern ICT skills and knowledge in African schoolchildren, partnerships between governments and companies can define the future of African youth,” said Dr Henry Chasia, the executive deputy chairperson of the Nepad e-Africa Commission.
In South Africa, HP is a partner of the eSchools project, teaming up with the South African government, development agencies, civil society organisations and local and international companies.
The HP consortium includes Eskom, Mindset, Multichoice, Canonical, Transtel, Sanani, Edupac, Edutouch, Mergent Technologies and Intel.
‘HP aims to apply the potential of technology in education,” said Thoko Mokgosi-Mwantembe, HP South Africa CEO.
‘HP’s commitment to the project goes beyond the donation of equipment. Through our workshops, teachers and the local community will be able to learn the ICT skills that are needed to participate as equals in the global knowledge economy,” he said.