The South African Post Office (SAPO) plans to provide e-mail access to more than 100 Dinaledi schools across the country from next year.
The post office says it was mandated by the Department of Communications and the initiative forms part of its plans to implement ICT in rural areas.
"We were tasked by government to provide e-mail access to all South Africans," says SAPO CEO Motshoanetsi Lefoka. "We see providing e-mail access to students in Dinaledi schools as an entry point into those communities that cannot be reached, because the children are the representatives of the community."
The Dinaledi schools are those earmarked by the Department of Education (DOE) to provide access to maths and science at higher-grade level in underprivileged schools. The DOE states that more than 500 Dinaledi schools are now operational.
"We are looking at forming partnerships with organisations in the IT stable, such as Sentech, and also to engage the private sector," says Lefoka.
SAPO CFO Nicholas Buick says it was given a subsidy of R330 million by government to service areas that have been previously underserved by SAPO. Of this subsidy, R130 million is budgeted towards providing ICT to rural areas, he notes.
SAPO also plans to increase the number of public Internet terminals in rural areas' post offices.
Lefoka says this is to enable people to connect to e-government services, provided by the departments of home affairs and social development. SAPO also hopes to increase the number of business connection centres in post offices so that small to medium enterprises, in rural areas, can have Internet access.
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