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Tablets, smartphones for Gauteng principals

Marin'e Jacobs
By Marin'e Jacobs
Johannesburg, 04 Jun 2013
The Gauteng Department of Education will distribute smartphones and tablets to education officials in an effort to improve communication.
The Gauteng Department of Education will distribute smartphones and tablets to education officials in an effort to improve communication.

The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has launched an upgraded communication project, which sees approximately 2 600 principals, district cluster and circuit leaders, human resource management officials, and curriculum officials receive a Samsung tablet and BlackBerry smartphone.

According to the department's head of communications, Charles Phahlane, the officials will receive a Samsung tablet and BlackBerry 9320 to strengthen communication between school principals and departmental offices.

Every official will have a personal e-mail address and will also be able to access to facilitate effective communication. Rollout to all affected officials will take place this week, and will include training on usage of the devices by technical staff who are based in district offices to support principals' queries.

Phahlane says a similar project was done in 2010, when 2 200 BlackBerry phones were given to officials to improve communication between schools, districts and head office. "However, principals complained the BlackBerry screen and keyboard did not facilitate more detailed communication. With the addition of a tablet, enhanced two-way communication is now possible."

At the launch of the project yesterday, education MEC Barbara Creecy said the project is part of the department's commitment to ensure districts provide relevant and coordinated support to schools. "This year, we are rolling out a new model of district support to schools. It means that clusters of 15 schools will account to a cluster leader who, in turn, will report together with other clusters to a circuit manager. These devices will enable schools to send accurate information and needs to the department and shorten response time," said Creecy.

In addition to improving communication, the project will also be used to monitor daily attendance of learners and educators, and intervene where necessary, says Phahlane. "The schools take registers every morning anyway, but, in addition to doing it manually, they will also now log the number of absentees on a central system."

Human resource personnel are included in the programme so that principals can easily report problems such as late payment of temporary educators.

According to a statement released by the GDE, the department will by the end of the year also use the devices to monitor curriculum coverage in all schools from information supplied by the principals. This will enable rapid responses by districts where schools are struggling with assessments or curriculum coverage.


Phahlane says the phones have been configured to use a top-up prepaid system, and the department will provide around R400 airtime a month to each official. The project will cost R15 million a year.

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