Minister of education, Prof Kader Asmal, and Microsoft South Africa today presented the Banareng School in Atteridgeville, Tswane Metropolitan, with 10 new computers and software.
In May 2002, Microsoft entered into an agreement with the South African government, signed by Asmal, whereby the company will provide software to all government schools in perpetuity. This deal was discussed and agreed to between Jean-Philippe Courtois, President of Microsoft EMEA and President Thabo Mbeki at the World Economic Forum meeting in New York in January 2002. To date, more than 1 500 schools have received software from Microsoft as part of the offer made to government.
"We are convinced of the power of technology as the greatest social and economic enabler and believe it is a key part of the solution to promote long-term sustainable growth and development in SA," says Gordon Frazer, Managing Director at Microsoft South Africa.
"We would like to encourage government schools that have not yet taken advantage of the agreement with the Department of Education to contact Microsoft South Africa on 0860 22 55 67 to ensure they become part of this programme that aims to help learners and educators to realise their potential through technology.
"Providing schools with software is only part of what needs to be done to ensure that our learners benefit from the technology revolution. As a company we are involved with several initiatives which see Microsoft leading significant end-to-end education projects to bring the total power of technology to learners and educators," says Frazer.
As an extension to this project, earlier this month deputy minister of education, Mosibudi Mangena, together with Microsoft in partnership with CS Holdings, Future Managers and the ICDL Foundation launched the Teacher Technology Orientation Programme. The nationwide initiative aims to equip more than 200 educators from all nine provinces through a train-the-trainer programme with the technology knowledge and skills to maximise the software donated by Microsoft to all government schools.
Share
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device.
If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at www.microsoft.com and the Microsoft South Africa home page at www.microsoft.com/southafrica.
Editorial contacts