Education in the Clermont community has received a boost, with the opening of Dimension Data's Saturday School at Sithokozile Secondary School on Saturday, 4 August 2007.
In its first year, the programme will provide 300 learners from the school and five neighbouring schools with supplementary Grade 10 education.
"Supplemental learning through Saturday Schools form an integral part of the National Department of Education's Recovery Plan. The launch of the Dimension Data Saturday School in this community is appropriately timed to provide extra support to teachers and learners ahead of the upcoming exams," says Jay Reddy, Managing Director of Dimension Data KZN.
Dimension Data, a leading provider of technology solutions in South Africa, installed computers, projectors and drop down screens in 10 classrooms at Sithokozile Secondary School.
The company has also trained maths, science and English teachers from the five community schools as tutors to offer assistance to the learners every Saturday.
Tuition at the Saturday School is facilitated through the use of the video in, knowledge out (VIKO) e-learning solution, specifically designed to act as a learning aid to both learners and teachers. It provides courseware conforming to the national Grade 10 to 12 curricula, with a specific focus on maths, science and English. It also includes Wikipedia - an online encyclopaedia with over 2 000 000 reference articles, thousands of online literature titles, classic plays, novels and career guidance episodes.
"We provide lessons that are presented in both video and written format for maximum interactivity, and each learner has the ability to view video-on-demand. The system manages and tracks the entire learning process, from course development, through to user participation, assessment, and results statistics.
"Dimension Data set itself a goal to reach and develop 40 000 learners by 2015. The Dimension Data Saturday School forms the central tenet of Dimension Data's Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and has been running for the past 11 years at its Campus in Bryanston, Gauteng, and we are now looking at interacting with a vast number of additional learners to nurture grow and develop," adds Reddy.
The Dimension Data Saturday School at Sithokozile Secondary School is one of four Saturday School projects supported by the company. Through similar programmes at the Dimension Data Campus in Johannesburg, Tembisa and Thokoza in Gauteng, the technology provider already assists more than 1 000 learners with additional capacity to support 500 learners at the Clermont programme.
Reddy continues: "The four schools benefiting from the e-learning initiative provide a platform for Dimension Data to develop and roll out similar solutions to schools and communities in other regions in South Africa."
"We are confident of the programme's ability to positively impact on education and have first-hand experience of its results. Currently, two learners from the original Dimension Data Saturday School based at The Campus in Johannesburg are in our employment.
"Dimension Data will continue to nurture and develop academic talent within our communities. Goals and aspirations are often stifled by a lack of facilities and access to information. We seek to provide an outlet with which learners can realise their dreams through education," concludes Reddy.
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Dimension Data (LSE:DDT), a specialist IT services and solution provider, helps clients plan, build, support and manage their IT infrastructures. Dimension Data applies its expertise in networking, security, operating environments, storage and contact centre technologies and its unique skills in consulting, integration and managed services to create customised client solutions.
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