Information and communication technologies are bridging the gap between urban and rural education in South Africa. That`s according to David Rogers, IT manager of Michaelhouse school in the rural Natal midlands. The all-boys school is one of two full board schools in the country, accommodating 520 students aged 13 to 18. Every student has access to a PC, either in his private room or in communal labs at the school.
"Because of our location, we don`t have the same access to facilities as you`d expect in an urban school," says Rogers. "We therefore use IT to break down isolation barriers."
Michaelhouse students make extensive use of the Web as a learning tool. Rather than hand in a written paper, students refer their teachers to their individual Web sites where papers, research documents and projects are posted. In this way, students are prepared for a global market, where business is moving online.
"To keep our machines in working order we need to have one standard set of configurations that can be loaded onto each machine on a regular basis," says Rogers. "This helps prevent software corruption, repair hardware failure, and enables us to maintain a consistent platform through which our students have access to the software they need, online resources, e-mail and the Internet."
Michaelhouse selected Symantec`s Ghost, distributed locally by Server Tools, as the best solution for its system maintenance needs. Ghost simplifies the process by creating a master image of a machine, complete with software, operating system settings and drivers that can be used to remotely "clone" other machines. It can also be used to clone multiple machines on a peer-to-peer network by loading the Ghost server component onto a master machine and "sending" its image to its peers.
"We have 75 NT workstation PCs with six different images loaded onto a network server," says Rogers. "Each student has a network connection in his room that is used to download an image off the network, depending on the configuration of the PC."
Rogers says Ghost is the only software that reliably clones NT machines, the operating environment of choice at Michaelhouse.
"NT is specified for its robust security and reliability features, so Ghost has to live well within the NT environment to be of any use to us," he adds. "We`ve optimised the software to clone a machine from scratch in less than 20 minutes, where it would have previously taken us up to five hours for the same job."
Since installing Ghost, Michaelhouse has radically reduced its maintenance overheads. Monthly upgrades are done weekly, weekly upgrades daily.
"Michaelhouse has always been proactive in all that it offers its students, from education to IT," says Rogers. "Already we`ve had inquiries from schools around the country, and have sold on Ghost licences to schools in Gauteng and the Western Cape."
For more information, contact David Rogers at (033) 234-1000, or e-mail david@mhs.kzn.school.za.
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