Local organisation giveITback has installed 10 pre-built, solar-powered computer labs in SA schools since the start of 2015.
Designed for schools in areas lacking building and electrical infrastructure as well as access to ICT, giveITback's school PC lab is pre-built and assembled within a rust-treated, temperature-controlled 12m shipping container. It runs off-grid from inbuilt solar panels which can power the lab for over 10 hours without sunshine.
The lab houses 20 PCs with headsets for learners, and one server with monitor and speakers for the teacher, and offers enough space for 40 learners at a time, sharing one computer between two learners.
All computers are kitted out with Microsoft Office and "full CAPS and e-learning software", according to giveITback's Web site, and have access to 3G Internet. The lab also features a projector and a printer with high-yield cartridge packs.
The pre-built computer lab is advantageous in that it allows schools to "skip the lengthy building process and all the expenses that are part and parcel of building any new infrastructure," says giveITback founder Jonathan Michael.
The most recent school to receive one of giveITback's labs is Sandwater Primary School in Oyster Bay, a coastal hamlet near St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape.
A non-fee-paying school in a farming community and the only primary school in the area, Sandwater Primary benefits particularly from the pre-built, off-grid lab in that it allows the school to offer ICT education without needing to pay for building and additional electricity use.
Sandwater Primary's computer lab was installed with the financial assistance of nearby 80MW renewable energy project Kouga Wind Farm.
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