Ikaneng Primary School in Soweto yesterday became the first Gauteng school to benefit from the Gauteng Education Department`s Gautengonline.com project. Gautengonline, a provincial government initiative, aims to provide every learner in the province with access to the Internet by 2006.
[VIDEO]Speaking at a gala event to launch the project, Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa said Gauntengonline was an opportunity for learners to "jump onto the information superhighway. Gautengonline will mean that a learner in a school in Orange Farm will have the same access to knowledge and information as a learner in an expensive private school in Sandton."
The Gauteng Education Department has committed R500 million to kickstart the project but hopes to secure additional funding from the private sector as the project progresses. The project aims to provide schools with a minimum of 25 networked computers as well as a supply of office applications over the coming five years.
Reacting to recent criticisms that Gautengonline lacked a business plan and was not a practical use of education department funds, Shilowa said: "The people who say we must not go ahead with this project are the ones with kids in Model C schools. Their kids already enjoy the technological advantages they say we must keep away from our kids."
[VIDEO]However, Gautengonline has not yet named a strategic partner for its venture, nor has it finalised a business plan for the roll-out of hardware. Thami Nxasana, program manager for Gautengonline, said that the business model would be developed over the next six to 18 months together with "experts in the field".
Ignatius Jacobs, Gauteng`s MEC for education, said that the process of selecting a strategic partner was "already underway" and that the tenders were out.
Nxasana said that while this was "an important milestone on the path to a more prosperous future" the project was also part of a broader project to enable the smart delivery of education. He said that school teachers and administrators will be able to access and download online information such as forms, administrative documentation, curricula and teaching aids.
[VIDEO]Jacobs said that Gautengonline was not only about providing e-mail addresses to the 1.5 million learners in Gauteng, but was also part of the project to contribute to general economic growth in the province by preparing learners to be knowledge workers that are able to use IT effectively and contribute to the new economy.
The roll-out will prioritise schools in townships and rural areas where the facilities are most needed. Shilowa said the roll-out would need to go hand-in-hand with programmes to upgrade the infrastructure in schools as well as ensuring the security of the computer equipment.
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