It`s common knowledge that there`s a wide income gap in South Africa between the so-called haves and the have-nots, a gap that also leads to a dangerous technological and electronic divide.
Until recently, Aha-Thuto Secondary School which educates around 1 700 Grade 8-12 learners at Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, was a prime example of this income gap and technological divide.
But now, after wide-ranging assistance from software development firm Barone Budge and Dominick (BB&D), the school can achieve its aim of enabling all of its matriculants to write their CVs on a computer before they head off to tertiary education or the job market.
BB&D, which develops software for local and international clients, and has it own learnership programme running in Johannesburg, worked together with the school over a few months to get its computer centre up to scratch.
This has involved fixing broken computers, replacing components, applying for and installing Microsoft software licences, supplying several new computers and implementing training to equip the school with a "super team" that can run the computer centre and its 30-odd computers.
In an area where theft and flooding are problems, it hasn`t been the easiest of tasks to accomplish, but now the centre is up and running and hundreds of learners are gradually becoming computer literate.
"By training up a so-called super team of teachers and learners, we`ve tried to help the school to help themselves, but we`ll be available on an ongoing basis to handle issues that they can`t," said BB&D spokesman Oliver Bischoff.
School principal Mtungwa Dlamini says the repaired and new computer equipment, together with the training staff and learners have received, "will make a great difference in ensuring we are going to be in a position of teaching more of our learners computer literacy".
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