Schools ditch Gauteng Online

Johannesburg, 15 May 2009

Gauteng schools are opting out of the troubled Gauteng Online schools project - as the project continues to be plagued by problems.

Gauteng Online is a provincial initiative to build a province-wide school computer network. The project aims to create 25-seat computer labs with Internet and e-mail capabilities at all public schools in the province, to be used for curriculum delivery.

Announced in 2001, the project was initially allocated R500 million over the course of three years to build the computer network. In 2005, an additional R100 million was allocated to fast track the project and the deadline for its completion was first extended to 2006, then to 2007.

Kathy Callaghan, secretary of the Governors' Alliance, says the organisation is withdrawing its support for the project and some members are choosing to install their own online projects in schools.

“It's not our concern anymore. We have told our members they have to decide for themselves and that they can refuse to have the computers. The principals I deal with are not impressed with the project - no-one's impressed.”

The Governors' Alliance, which represents 384 schools across the Gauteng area, says the project is failing. Callaghan says the organisation's members have been involved with the project from its inception, but the project continues to be plagued by problems. Several letters detailing its concerns have gone unanswered from the GSSC, she notes, and the Governors' Alliance will no longer support the project.

Problems continue

While successful examples of the project do exist in schools, Callaghan say the project is still experiencing issues. She lists teacher training, theft, broken computers and failed Internet connections as just some of the problems the GSSC has failed to fix over the years.

“I'm not sure if it's a success in some areas, but what I see is that the GSSC continues to pump money into a failing project.”

She says the GSSC needs to conduct a “real, honest” report to see how the project is actually performing. There needs to be an audit on how many labs are operational, how many computers have been replaced following high incidents of theft and why these were taken, she notes. There also needs to be an audit on the number of teachers qualified to help deliver on the project - as the planned training of teachers has also been problematic, she says.

More theft

While the GSSC did introduce some measures to deal with increasing cases of theft, these have not been effective, Callaghan says. The GSSC previously stated that, in ensuring physical security of the computer labs, it has put several security measures, such as burglar doors, steel reinforced ceiling and motion detectors and alarms, in place.

“There are many labs where, despite the measures taken by the GSSC, people still managed to break in. The barricades in the roofs and having no windows in computer labs didn't stop the theft,” says Callaghan.

The GSSC stated that it had installed thin clients in all new labs. The agency said that, by replacing traditional desktops, theft would decrease, as thin clients have “no street commercial value once removed from the environment of the computer lab, therefore rendering them useless with no resale value”.

Callaghan says this measure did not deter theft, as expected, as theft cases still continue. The GSSC did not plan this project properly, she claims. “When you see that a project is not working, you review it and find a new strategy - you don't keep pumping money into it.”

The GSSC did not comment at the time of publication.