Johannesburg, 04 Oct 2011
The Department of Education's (DOE's) lagging Teacher Laptop Initiative (TLI) has finally taken off, with JSE-listed Mustek being given the go-ahead to supply laptops for the project.
A national drive, the TLI was introduced at the end of 2008 under the management of the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC). The stated goal was to equip the country's 400 000-odd teachers with laptops by 2011, in a bid to improve the overall quality of education in public schools.
Due to slow government procedures and formalities regarding acquisition and funding of laptops, as well as issues surrounding training and support from the ICT sector, the deadline was not met and the TLI had become an ongoing uncertainty. The project was originally mapped for rollout in February 2010.
While the initiative will ultimately enlist the services of 13 official suppliers, the ELRC on Thursday issued written confirmation that the Mustek group would be the first accredited supplier of laptops to teachers in the programme. The company has developed a range of Mecer Xpression laptops exclusively for the teaching profession, which are configured for all teaching-related and administrative tasks.
Garry Hodgson, head of Mustek's education division, says the accreditation is the result of many months of planning, negotiation and process development. The dedicated Mecer Xpression laptops comply with the pre-set requirements, as specified by the ELRC for the initiative. These include a 160GB hard drive, wireless local area network (LAN), Ethernet LAN, voice-fax modem Internet connectivity and a Windows XP, or higher, operating system. The equipment is also preloaded with education-based software.
“There are three Mecer Xpression models available: the Teacher 101, Teacher 201 and Teacher 301. These have varying processors, RAMs and hard drives, ranging from R364.24 to R518.19 per month, for 24 months,” says Hodgson.
In accordance with the department's TLI programme, each provincial department of education will provide qualifying teachers with a monthly laptop allowance of R130 per month for 60 months, which is a total of R7 800 over five years.
Hodgson says the disparity in finance terms offered through the project and by Mustek, respectively, is due to a general consensus by participating teachers, who understand the implications of interest.
“Most of the teachers didn't want to extend their finance over 60 months and so a concession was made whereby we could offer them finance over a shorter period. At the end of the 24 months, they still get their allowance and can purchase another laptop if they wish to do so.”
Another relatable discussion point among teachers, says Hodgson, was the option of purchasing a laptop via a once-off cash payment, which would be significantly more economical. “This option still qualifies teachers for allowances and, because they understand the interest implications, is a popular alternative.”
Representing Mustek, Hodgson is presently attending the triennial congress of the South African Democratic Teachers' Union in the Eastern Cape, where he was given the opportunity to discuss the initiative in its entirety.
General secretary of the ELRC Dhaya Govender says the TLI is expected to run smoothly. “The Teacher Laptop Initiative is rolling out and the vast majority of provinces have confirmed numbers and are in the process of issuing letters of qualification.”
Govender says that, while the number of teachers who qualify for the TLI allowance is expected to rise considerably, it is currently sitting at just over 60 000. Mpumalanga and the North West Province make up a significant part of this number, with 23 000 and 26 000 qualifying teachers, respectively. “This is a three-year rollout and the largest number [of TLI candidates] will be in the financial year 2012/2013.”
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