The North West Province is the latest beneficiary of the Department of Communications' (DOC's) initiative aimed at ICT development in rural communities.
This week saw the unveiling of a multimedia centre for Rustenburg's Bakgofa Primary School. Sponsored by the MTN SA Foundation to the tune of approximately R500 000, the centre will provide the 650 pupils at the school with up-to-date computer software and Internet connectivity.
MTN, which was commissioned by the DOC to provide and equip the media centre, has installed 21 computer workstations, a data projector and interactive white board, and will provide subsidised Internet service for 24 months. MTN says the centre has been fully renovated and furbished, and educators will be given basic computer training.
Mindset software, which caters for all education-related programmes from grade one to grade 12, and Encarta for lower grades, were installed and will be maintained, along with structural elements of the centre, by the DOC.
MTN SA head of legal Fusi Mokoena says the mobile operator is “heavily involved” in the development of rural communities through the MTN Foundation. “We are here to plant another seed in this province as part of the series of investments that the foundation will be devoting to in the coming years.”
Mokoena says the sponsorship is in line with the foundation's commitment to connecting communities for self-reliance.
“Schools provide a natural entry point into communities, which is why we implement education projects first. They allow us to build relationships with key community stakeholders, including learners, young people, parents, educators, and community members and leaders.”
Development strategy
The media centre for Bakgofa Primary is part of the MTN Foundation's integrated development strategy that seeks to “deliver maximum benefit to selected cluster communities” in six of SA's nine provinces. It is one of approximately 130 schools that will see the bolstering of ICT structures across Limpopo, the North West, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape.
MTN says interventions include providing schools with technology-based teaching and learning aids, enhancing the outreach of existing science centres, establishing interactive tele-teaching technology platforms, and developing the capacity and institutional infrastructure of schools.
This latest donation is part of the DOC's 'reclaiming our future through ICT' programme, which aspires to supply computers, connectivity and school uniforms to needy and under-serviced schools.
Deputy communications minister Stella Tembisa Ndanebi says the programme will be launched strategically during the month of December. “[Initiatives] will be rolled out in various phases in 2012.”
MTN says 2012 will be devoted to ensuring sustainability in the clusters. “This includes institutionalisation of the intervention activities that were put in place, ie, bringing the relevant government departments on board and continued subsidisation of Internet services.”
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