The R850 million locked in the Universal Services Access Fund (USAF) could be used to subsidise the costs of issuing every teacher with a laptop, says James Theledi, CEO of the Universal Services Access Agency of SA (USAASA).
The USAF receives money from licensed telecommunications operators, such as Telkom, Neotel, Vodacom, MTN and Cell C. They pay 0.2% of their revenue annually as part of their licence conditions.
The fund and USAASA have been heavily criticised, because National Treasury will not release any money as it feels no business plan has been drawn up.
However, Theledi says there is an urgent need for teachers to be issued with laptop computers. He says part of the USAF could be used to subsidise this, as long as there is no duplication with efforts under way by the national and provincial education departments.
Earlier this year, education minister Naledi Pandor said in Parliament that her department was considering ensuring that every teacher would receive a laptop. This could be part of their employment conditions.
"Our analysis shows this whole idea could be very feasible," Theledi says. "One of the biggest problems we have found in schools is some resistance by teachers to using ICT even though the schools may have cyber labs installed."
He says, because of this resistance, schools do not budget for teaching ICT-related subjects and the school governing bodies have not been pushing for the integration of such subjects into the curricula.
Theledi says the Electronic Communications Act allows USAASA to help fund things like laptop computers for teachers. "So there is no doubt that part of the fund can be accessed for that."
He says with every teacher receiving a laptop, it would set an example for the learners about the real world application for ICT. It would also allow the teachers to store and display teaching materials, help with their administration, and keep accurate and timely records of marks, averages and so on.
However, Theledi says, some issues would have to be resolved, such as how the laptops would be stored and how they would issued.
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