IS and Schoolnet SA help Mmabatho learners get online

SchoolNet SA has received a further boost from The Internet Solution (IS) and the World Bank with the launch of yet another of the provincial hubs to be used for the training of teachers, trainers, scholars and other members of the community. The site, at Mmabatho High School, forms part of the World Bank`s World Links for Development (WorLD) project.

The North West Province hub site provides computer, telecommunications and Internet technologies that will be put to work for the benefit of the local community and will be officially opened on Tuesday February 29 by the Provincial MEC for Education, Mr P Tolo. IS is connecting these sites to the Internet via 64Kbps leased line access, which gives members of previously disadvantaged communities Internet access equivalent to that of South Africa`s elite corporate sector. The World Bank is funding the World Links Project in partnership with SchoolNet SA, a non-profit organisation focusing on the effective use of information and communication technologies in education in South Africa.

According to IS MD, Derek Wilcocks, the choice to partner with SchoolNet SA has vindicated itself repeatedly over the past eighteen months. "We are committed to continuing with this relationship indefinitely, although subject to annual reviews to ensure the project continues to be as fruitful as it has been. We have no doubt that it will live up to our best expectations," he says. "Our aim, from the beginning, was to plug into an existing, thriving system and add value in our areas of natural competence. Since the launch by then telecommunications minister Jay Naidoo of the first centre in Mphopomeni, Kwa-Zulu Natal, a number of other centres have sprung up in other provinces, and we are proud to have been able to make a worthwhile contribution."

According to SchoolNet SA Executive Director Denis Brandjes, the IS and World Bank sponsorships, along with the contributions of other IT sector players, has played an invaluable role in extending the reach of SchoolNet SA`s activities. "We face a huge task in trying to wire up and assist the thousands of schools around the country. So far, SchoolNet SA has provided some form of Internet access to hundreds of schools," says Brandjes, "but there are still 28 000 schools in South Africa that need to gain access to the information super-highway. We are about the educational application of the technology, rather than being an ISP for schools, which is why we value the contribution from major players such as IS so much," he says.

So far, centres have gone live in Kwazulu Natal, Gauteng, and North West Province. The centres for Eastern Cape and Northern Province are due to go live before April 2000, while in the remaining provinces suitable locations still have to be found. "We would hope to have the full network of nine provincial hubs up and running by the end of the year," Brandjes concludes.