MTN to boost education in SA

MTN Business has partnered with government to support the Department of Basic Education's Teacher Laptop Initiative (TLI), which aims to equip every teacher in South Africa with a laptop that has Internet connectivity.

The project, managed by the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) and various stakeholders with a keen interest in education, aims to equip the approximately 360 000 teachers in South Africa with laptops, in an effort to improve the overall quality of education in the country's public schools.

“There are many issues plaguing the teaching profession today. MTN provides the schools with state-of-the-art technologies to aid teaching and learning, to establish interactive tele-teaching technology platforms. As a telecommunications operator, MTN is providing the connectivity bridge that will enable teachers to participate fully in the information economy and learners to empower themselves for the world of tomorrow,” says Nkululeko Magadla, head of business channels at MTN South Africa.

The use of Internet in the classroom will be beneficial as teachers will be able to find useful material, to be able to capture, modify and save text, graphics, sound and video files.

“Today's official rollout is intended to address the under-utilisation of information technology in the classroom. This ranges from Web-hosted services to, even more critically, the ability to enhance the learning experience through Web-based research. Our partnerships with laptop manufactures and software companies truly brings value to teachers specifically and education at large,” says Magadla.

The offers that MTN Business has put together are exclusive to the TLI and only available to certified teachers. As a customer-focused organisation, MTN will ensure the process for teachers to empower themselves with the tools they need to make the learning experience as rich as possible for their students, will be a simple one.