Vodacom and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education (KDOE) this month launched an ICT resource centre, based in Pinetown.
Vodacom SA, in partnership with Department of Basic Education, has identified a need to establish ICT resource centres throughout the country to fast -track effective teaching and learning, says the KDOE.
It says the new centre was established in the Pinetown Education District.
Vodacom will roll out atotal of nine ICT resource centres, with one in each province, according to head of corporate and citizenship for Vodacom, Suraya Hamdulay
The resource centres will be located in Gauteng - Tshwane, Mpumalanga - Emalahleni, Western Cape - Worcester, KwaZulu-Natal - Pinetown, Eastern Cape - Lady Frere, Northern Cape - Upington, Limpopo - Makhado, North West - Ganyesa and Free State - Mangaung.
Critical elements
“Education can no longer do without ICT in the classroom, where everything starts. Therefore, we are very delighted to launch this project that will have a direct impact on improving education in the province,” said KZN MEC for education, Senzo Mchunu.
He added that the centre will empower users, and effectively improve teaching and learning. He urged all learners and educators to use the centre to their full benefit.
The centre is aimed at providing ICT skills training to teachers and unemployed youth, and will make the process of teaching and learning interesting, according to the department.
It says this initiative focuses on one of the critical elements in the education value chain, which is teacher professional development training, focusing on ICT literacy. It also aims to improve the quality of teaching across all subjects, and provide access to educational digital content.
Each ICT resource centre offers a computer room with 50 computer terminals, Internet connectivity, and training facilities.
Free communication
Mtholbeli Tengimfene, head of CSI operations with Vodacom, says the operator has committed to supplying connectivity, content hosting and Internet connectivity for the centre over the next three years, apart from the hardware provisions.
Connectivity includes the establishment of an Access Point Name network for each centre to allow for free communication among the teachers. “We want to empower teachers with a variety of teaching resources, rich in multimedia content.”
The centres will have 200 schools linked to them for IT-based general teacher development.
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