Johannesburg - ‘’Don’t wear your matric blazer to avoid being targeted by criminals.”
This was the message to matric pupils who received tablets as part of the paperless classrooms project from Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi.
It followed break-ins in at least two schools in the province since the start of the new school term last week. Lesufi has asked pupils to “prioritise their own safety, move in groups and avoid being targeted by not wearing their 2015 matric blazers”.
On Saturday, criminals broke into Phafogang Secondary School in Rockville, Soweto, and stole five laptops, two desktop computers and three smartboards.
In Ekurhuleni, Kwadukathole Comprehensive School in Katlehong was burgled last week, and two computers were stolen.
There was also a report of a pupil from Dr BW Vilakazi Secondary School who was mugged and robbed of his tablet.
The two schools are among the 375 rural and township schools that received tablets as part of the second phase of the paperless classroom programme.
Kwadukathole principal Dan Mosena said the pupils were excited to use technology, but couldn’t take the tablets home. “We are assessing the situation and don’t want to do anything that would endanger our pupils’ lives. We lock the tablets in a strongroom that even the security (guards) don’t have access to,” Mosena explained.
He said that once the security had been strengthened, maybe the pupils could take them home. “We have to consider that they have to use them for homework and to study. For now, we have not taken away the textbooks, so they are using both.”
Mosena said that from the theft of the computers, the school had lost pupils’ results and other administrative information.
Other than the break-ins, Lesufi said he was happy with the implementation of the paperless classroom programme. He visited several schools a week after the launch to check on the progress. “With regard to classrooms that needed refurbishment, only 145 of the 1 800 targeted need urgent intervention, and contractors who had not met their deadlines were replaced.”
Although the MEC is excited about the project, the SA Teachers Union’s spokesman, Ted Townsend, was worried about its implementation. “Where is the research which indicates that illiteracy and lack of numeracy will magically be remedied when lessons are presented on a smartboard?
“Where is the data that shows that a dysfunctional school where learners feel insecure and unsafe and where other learners with criminal intentions lurk are miraculously transformed into safe, inspirational places infused with a culture of teaching and learning by the soft glow of hundreds of tablet screens?
“That is before they have been stolen because, frankly, there is no security to speak of,” Townsend added.
The Star