Government has stressed its commitment to building a strategy in which every single learner in SA has access to a computer, and outlines plans to strengthen its partnership with software giant Microsoft.
Basic Education Deputy Minister, Enver Surty said at the Microsoft Innovative Teacher Awards in Cape Town that ICT plays a critical role in developing education and that Africa has a key part to play in using technology to improve learning.
“Government is making a commitment that our first priority is quality-based education. We have signed an agreement with ministers of the nine provinces to contribute either directly or indirectly to make sure that we commit to our promises of quality education,” Surty said.
“By 2015, government commits to provide ICT to every single learner from Grade Three onwards. The second promise is to integrate ICT into the national education curriculum.
“And the third commitment is to ensure that we utilise ICT as a tool for teacher development and to explore the possibilities within the ICT arena to expand education into the African continent.”
Surty added that government will continue working with Microsoft to develop digital content that will cater for the school curriculum.
Top innovative teachers from around the world were awarded at the Innovative Teacher Awards for using technology to drive educational transformation.
The celebration capped off a week of education seminars, visits to local Cape Town schools and the roll-out of the start of Shout, an environmental initiative formed by an alliance between Microsoft Partners in Learning, the Smithsonian Institution and TakingIT Global.
According to Microsoft, 47 judges representing more than 35 countries spent nearly 20 hours talking to the teachers and learning about their projects; then in a private room, they discuss, debate and share with one another until the winners are finally selected.
The winners in the four main evaluation categories were Samuel Avornyo of Ghana, Innovation in Community; Martin Ryum and Mette Hauch of Denmark, Innovation in Collaboration; Pat Yongpradit of the US, Innovation in Content; and Tareq Mahjoub, Tareq Mahmoud, Shahzlan Al Saffar, Omar Ashour, Futooh Khareetah and Majdi Daoud of the Arabic region, Educators Choice.
Peter de Lisle, a teacher from St Johns in Johannesburg, was the second runner-up in the Innovation in Content category. He was the only South African runner-up out of three South African finalists that were selected. De Lisle developed a project using software creativity tools that encouraged students to use Adobe Photoshop to create a biome and then design an adapted creature to live in it.
De Lisle said: “The next step is to train other teachers to create their own lessons using software tools such as Moodle and Photoshop.”
According to Microsoft, next year's Innovative Teacher Awards will take place in Washington, US, and regional competitions will take place beginning in November 2010. Interested teachers should contact their local Microsoft office for more information or look online here.
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