'Gauteng Online should be scrapped'

The current Gauteng Online Schools Project (GOSP) contract needs to be terminated as it is a waste of taxpayers' money, says the Democratic Alliance (DA).

The troubled project is an initiative to build a province-wide school computer network. It aims to create 25-seat computer labs with Internet and e-mail capabilities at all public schools in the province, which will be used to deliver curriculum.

DA Gauteng education spokesperson Khume Ramulifho alleges that 60% of the R3 billion, or about R1.8 billion, invested in the project since inception in 2001 has been “wasted”.

Ramulifho says, of the 2 250 schools in Gauteng that need to be equipped with labs, only 1 665 PC centres have been rolled out since the project started in 2001.

However, of these labs, only 40% are functional and of full use to students, according to DA research into the situation.

Ramulifho says PCs without any Internet access cannot be called functional, because students are unable to augment what they are taught by doing additional research online. “We're living in the digital world.”

Access to the Internet is vital so that students can expand on what they are taught in classrooms, says Ramulifho. He adds this benefits teachers and learners alike.

“The Gauteng provincial government is simply wasting money on this project and learners are being denied an opportunity to gain the necessary skills required in a competitive global knowledge economy.”

In some instances, says Ramulifho, PCs are available, but are simply not being used.

The department has also granted learnerships to students at tertiary level to aid learners, but these assistants are sometimes sent to schools without a computing centre.

“They get stipends for nothing,” says Ramulifho. He says this is yet another waste of taxpayers' money.

Gauteng MEC for finance Mandla Nkomfe said during his budget speech in July that the department will train 1 200 IT technicians and deploy them to Gauteng Online-enabled schools in the province “to address technical problems and enhance the operational efficiency of the system”.

In addition, about 90% of the schools with labs have been subjected to theft, Ramulifho says.

He alleges that stolen computing equipment is meant to be replaced within 30 days, but there are schools that have been waiting two years for replacement items to be delivered.

“There have been reports of theft and burglary in these facilities. Six hundred and thirty-two cases of burglary and theft of the project's computers have been reported, but there has not been even one conviction yet.”

A recent report on the project by the Gauteng departments of finance and education showed computer equipment worth over R18.5 million has been lost to theft since 2008.

Ramulifho says the police should investigate all cases of burglary and theft, and the department needs to provide a detailed report of convictions.

He adds that most of the affected schools are in disadvantaged areas, where the need for PC skills is the greatest.

For these reasons, Ramulifho says an immediate review of GOSP needs to be conducted and the contract should be terminated.

Nkomfe, however, said in July that the department aims to speed up implementation of GOSP. “Our efforts to speed up the process of implementing GOL [Gauteng Online] have also given us an opportunity to provide work opportunities and develop a pool of young people with much needed IT skills.”

There is no current end date for when the rollout will be complete, says Ramulifho. “It's like a life contract.”

He adds the entire project should be started from scratch. He explains some students are leaving school without the necessary PC skills and so the project is a waste of taxpayers' money.

The spokesperson also alleges MEC for education Barbara Creecy avoided all questions regarding the project at an education portfolio committee meeting in the Gauteng Legislature on Wednesday.

The education department referred all enquiries to the finance department, which is overseeing the project, while the Gauteng Department of Finance did not respond to ITWeb queries by the time of publication, but indicated it would do so at a later stage.

Ramulifho previously said the project is essentially failing. “The project is important and relevant, but poor planning and governance is causing its failure.”

It is extremely important that computer training happens, not only at the tertiary level, but from primary schooling, and the GOSP is not helping in this regard, said Ramulifho.

Nkomfe has said the department will allocate “R400 million to the outcome focused on quality education through involvement in the GOSP”.

The Department of Finance says part of the R400 million will go towards completing the remaining 595 GOSP computer labs. “[This will] effectively bridge the digital divide for the remaining 32% of learners in the province.”

As part of the strategy to accelerate the implementation of the project, the departments have introduced Operation Tsoseletso to address challenges experienced with the implementation of GOSP since its inception in 2001.

“Operation Tsoseletso is being rolled out as a pilot to test whether recurring problems, which have hampered the implementation of GOSP, can be resolved in a systematic manner,” says the department.