No clear vision for tech in schools

Despite continuous mention of government's intent to connect South African schools to a broadband network and to inject technology into the classroom, it appears efforts to modernise the country's education system remain fragmented.

And while each of the country's provinces is left to its own devices when it comes to technology rollout in schools, it also appears that certain ICT in education initiatives - such as One Laptop Per Child and the Teacher Laptop Initiative - have either fallen by the wayside, or have stalled.

"It's natural that (technology rollout initiatives) would be fragmented," says a Department of Basic Education (DBE) official. "Each province is allocated an education budget and it's up to the individual departments to decide how to prioritise their spending.

"It is, therefore, natural that leading provinces such as Gauteng and the Western Cape, which have prioritised technology in schools, would be ahead of the other provinces, which prioritised other needs for their schools."

In the meantime, it's difficult to obtain a comprehensive snapshot of government's national technology in schools rollout, as the DBE has failed to respond to questions.

However, according to figures released last year, 8 491 schools have been connected through government and industry initiatives in the past five years. This was revealed by deputy communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, while unveiling the National Schools e-Connectivity Framework through the e-Connectivity Forum, in a bid to boost the quality of education.

Ndabeni-Abrahams noted that, as part of the plan (and in line with amended universal service obligations), mobile operators would connect an additional 4 500 schools.

The deputy minister said the e-connectivity framework was government's endeavour to improve SA's rankings in the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report, which, in 2013, placed SA's mathematics and science education second-last in the world, only ahead of Yemen. It also noted the overall quality of the education system ranked 140 out of 144 countries, while internet access came in at 111 out of 143 countries.

She added that to advance education, it was important that young people equip themselves with skills that are relevant to the job market. "In particular, the uptake of maths and science at high school level and engineering at tertiary level has been highlighted as issues of concern."

However, it appears that government's intervention is yet to yield results, as the 2015 Global Information Technology report shows South Africa dropped five places - to 75 out of 143 countries - in the Network Readiness Index.

The report also shows that SA was ranked 126 for prepaid mobile cellular tariffs, 103 for government success in ICT promotion, 117 for internet access in schools, 112 for ICT use and government efficiency, and 123 for competition in the telephony and internet market.

According to the latest WEF report, SA ranked 139 ? followed by Egypt, Angola, Yemen and Libya ? for the overall quality of its education system, with the report looking at 'How well does the educational system in your country meet the needs of a competitive economy?'

SA's overall quality of education, when taking all subjects into account, was ranked 146 last year, compared to 140 in 2013, the WEF says. This year, SA was ranked 143 out of 143 countries for the quality of math and science education alone.

The (Gauteng education) department is focusing on bringing education into the 21st century by ensuring all teachers and learners have progressive access to broadband and smart learning and teaching tools.

Barbara Creecy, Gauteng MEC for Finance

Commenting on the country's ranking, ICT commentator Adrian Schofield says teaching of maths and science hasn't significantly improved since last year, and when it does, it will then take ten to 12 years for ranking systems to notice. "It's becoming increasingly urgent for SA to completely overhaul how we teach maths and science in schools.

"The softer side of education, such as languages and art, is important for a balanced education, but without critical skills such as logic and a curiosity for the way things work (which is taught in maths and science), we have students graduating with no personal productivity and collective competiveness," says Schofield.

Other mentions of technology rollout in schools have been sporadic, such as during Gauteng MEC for Finance Barbara Creecy's provincial budget speech in March. Creecy highlighted the provincial government's investment of just over R1 billion in the full realisation of the Gauteng Broadband Network over the next four years.

As part of this project, the MEC noted the modernisation of classrooms is critical to achieving quality education. "The (Gauteng education) department is focusing on bringing education into the 21st century by ensuring all teachers and learners have progressive access to broadband and smart learning and teaching tools.

"Six schools were connected to the Gauteng broadband network in December 2014, with another 80 schools being connected by March 2015. In 2015/16, we will connect a further 150 schools."

Among the questions government failed to answer was what progress has been made in terms of the One Laptop Per Child initiative, which was introduced in 2008 in South Africa. The launch was marked by the donation of 100 XO laptops to the Kilptown Youth Programme, by the Department of Basic Education.

It seems the initiative has since failed to gain any real momentum, as it's understood a mere 650 devices have been rolled out across the country since the project's inception, via several non-governmental organisations.

This was until June last year, when Orange Farm became the first 'real' beneficiary of the project, with 250 tablets donated by MoneyGram to Masibambane Junior Primary School. However, this project seems to have stalled again.

Democratic Alliance shadow deputy minister of Basic Education, Desiree van der Walt, says it's of concern that the One Laptop Per Child project has seemingly fallen through the cracks. She's written to Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga, requesting an update on this initiative.

Van der Walt notes that Gauteng is well ahead of the rest of the provinces with regards to technology rollout in schools. "But we've seen challenges on a national level linked to technology rollout and e-learning.

"Firstly, many of the teachers are proving to be a huge challenge to get on board.
Many of them are not IT-literate and it may take some time to get their buy-in. Secondly, if e-learning is introduced into the classroom, each school will need to have an IT specialist on standby somewhere close by, in case anything goes wrong," she says.

Van der Walt points out that safety and security is another major concern in the rollout of technology in schools. "We've seen many break-ins at schools lately, so that is definitely a challenge when it comes to putting technology in schools."
She notes that government's e-learning and technology in schools programme is currently fragmented and haphazard, and she believes the initiative should be more focused. "There needs to be a lot more dedication when it comes to this initiative.

The DBE, on its own, doesn't seem to have the commitment to do this. There is support from private sector companies, but government's attention seems to be all over the place.

"Essentially, we need to roll out technology projects where we can succeed."

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has announced that the department will be withdrawing a total of 88 000 tablets from schools across the province following a recent spate of burglaries.

He said there had been a series of burglaries at schools in the province as people want to steal tablets that the department handed over to schools.

The MEC has written letters to school principals to bring back all the tablets that the department has given to schools with immediate effect, so that the department can enhance security.

The MEC said he was saddened and deeply disappointed by the violent protests that saw all the schools in the area vandalised.

He said school fences were vandalised, as well as chairs, tables and windows, adding that it was unfortunate that communities target schools when they have issues of service delivery that had nothing to do with education.

He said computers were also vandalised in some schools and this had disrupted the daily running of schools in the area.

"When these people break into our schools looking for tablets, they end up taking other things," said Lesufi.

He said a total of 88 000 tablets that were handed over to schools in the province will, unfortunately, be withdrawn.

However, the MEC said the withdrawal of tablets will not affect the paperless classrooms initiative in schools.

He said 11 tablets had been stolen and five of them had been recovered. The remaining six will be traced and recovered as soon as they are switched on.

"In one school, they went on to set alight learners' scripts and textbooks. It is winter, and learners will be sitting in classrooms without windows. Teachers cannot even prepare for lessons due to vandalism of school property," said Lesufi.

"It is sad that schools and churches are main targets when communities go on protests. We asked the police to strengthen their patrolling services around schools to secure the future of our children," he concluded. - SAnews.gov.za

This article was first published in Brainstorm magazine. Click here to read the complete article at the Brainstorm website.