Telkom is to spend R22-million across 150 Western Cape schools by the end of next year to boost pupils' access to "high-speed, broadband Internet connectivity", says the Western Cape Education Department.
The department says 98.4 percent of schools in the Western Cape are connected to the Internet, but that "in many cases" this is for email for administrative use, and not for teaching and learning.
Telkom's investment is to enable pupils at the 150 selected schools to use the Internet for learning, the province's head of education, Ron Swartz, said at the project's launch in Grassy Park on Friday.
The project launch coincided with the opening of a Telkom Internet Cafe - the first of its kind in the Western Cape - at the Grassy Park High School.
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Swartz said Telkom had committed itself to connecting more than 2 000 schools across the country to the Internet by December next year.
"Telkom has decided to invest R22-million in the project in the Western Cape," Swartz said.
He said Telkom would also provide three interactive white boards, as well as three data projectors and three laptops for each of the 150 schools.
The department's Khanya project, which uses technology to facilitate teaching and learning, would work with Telkom to select the 150 schools, Swartz said.
Khanya would also provide training and technical support, he said.
"Telkom is providing free broadband access to the Internet for a year for the selected schools, and will provide access in subsequent years at a reduced rate.
"Many of our schools cannot afford the Internet for teaching and learning, simply because of the cost of connectivity," Swartz said.
"The Telkom project will now make it possible for participating schools to afford greater use of the Internet for teaching and learning support."
- This article was originally published on page 3 of Cape Times on February 09, 2009
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