Tech boost for Egyptian schools

Egypt has introduced a pilot e-school initiative under the auspices of Nepad e-Africa Commission and the Egyptian ministry of education.

The project is a joint venture of the Egyptian government, HP Consortium, Oracle Consortium and the Nepad e-Africa Commission.

The Nepad e-schools initiative focuses on connecting schools across Africa to the Nepad e-schools network and the Internet. Solutions include the provision of content, learning material and the establishment of health points at schools.

"It is the first Arab country to be added to the e-schools list," says Dr Henry Chasia, deputy executive chairman of Nepad e-Africa commission. "It is beneficial having such a technologically advanced African country involved in the e-school initiative as it will create a strong model."

HP supplied three computer labs to three Egyptian secondary schools. The labs include desktops, laptops, computer servers, a wireless network and smart boards, in addition to the Internet via the satellite. The Oracle Consortium is also providing solutions to half of the Nepad e-schools demonstration project in Egypt.

The HP and Oracle consortia and several other private companies are sponsoring the demonstration projects in each of the 16 participating African countries, for 12 months.

This is a testing phase implemented in each country before the full roll-out, explains Chasia.

"In Egypt we have released the demonstration project in all six schools immediately as opposed to staggering the process, and we will watch the trial period closely," says Chasia.

The countries participating in this demonstration project are: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, SA and Uganda.

In a press release, Anil Gandhi, GM of Personal Systems Group at HP Middle East, says the project aims to transform all African secondary schools into e-schools within five years. The project also hopes to cover all African primary schools within 10 years.

Over 600 000 schools across the African continent will enjoy the benefits of ICT as well as connectivity to the Nepad e-schools satellite network upon completion of the project.