The official distributor of Apple products in SA, Core Group, is supplying disadvantaged schools across the country with Apple Mac products to bridge the digital divide in the education sector.
According to the company, this is part of the recently concluded iSchoolAfrica iGnite pilot programme on 13 schools across the country. iSchoolAfrica and the provincial departments of education are conducting this initiative.
Core Group says iSchoolAfrica, in partnership with corporate organisations, aims to bring education technology and practices to schools in SA with the objective of increasing access to a technologically-focused educational approach, which has proven to be successful.
Since the completion of the iGnite programme pilot, Core Group has been engaging with the public and private sector and the initiative is now active in more than 40 schools countrywide, the distributor says.
Current partners include; BMW Mini, Peermont, Bakubung Economic Development Unit, the Apple distributor says.
Core Group says each school is given a mobile classroom unit, which consists of 10 MacBook White laptop computers, preloaded with video, audio, Web site creation and photo applications, for the students to use.
“There is also one MacBook for the teacher, and one for the resident facilitator, the most competent teacher chosen by the school, and programme leadership at the end of the first year out of a pool of teachers,” it states.
Other hardware in the mobile classroom unit includes 10 cameras, five projectors, a wireless router, and a heavy-duty case for use in the transport of equipment between classrooms and storage after hours, it says.
Academic improvements
“Time and again, we find that if you give children from different socio-economic milieus access to the same technology early in their school careers, their academic results tend to converge, giving children from disadvantaged backgrounds a better shot at a good career and improved life prospects,” says Core Group executive director RJ van Spaandonk.
Van Spaandonk believes that deploying substandard technology, such as netbooks and “special education laptops”, is adverse in teaching children about technology and perpetuates their economic disadvantage.
“We wanted to show government that the three main challenges to implementing technologies in schools, namely, the scarcity of skills to train students and teachers in the technology, the lack of money to deploy the technology, and the lack of physical infrastructure, could be overcome through this programme.”
Van Spaandonk says the company envisions getting public-private partnerships to collaborate in investing money and resources in the programme. Private companies would invest R1.5 million for five mobile classrooms and provide a facilitator from their organisation, an investment which would run over three years.
The company says the money would go towards purchasing the mobile classroom, as well as ensuring it is maintained and has insurance in case of theft.
“It is envisaged that both the public sector, essentially government and its bodies, and private organisations, such as companies and NGOs, will adopt a cluster. Ideally, an entire sector is funded by way of a public-private partnership,” notes Van Spaandonk.
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