26 Nov 2018

Minister of Basic Education Mr Bagalatia Arone has emphasised the need to capacitate teachers and take into consideration infrastructure at schools if the country is to produce quality students.

“The quality of the education determines the kind of development process of our country. The government will continue to use education as a long-term strategy to diversify developments,” he said when launching the ICT model school initiative at Borwa Junior Secondary School in Bokaa recently.

The ICT model initiative is part of the Ministry of Basic Education (MoBE) intensive capacity development programme for teachers, IT managers and learners through Thutonet.ac.bw powered by Microsoft Office 365. 

Five schools; Borwa JSS, Mmadinare SSSS, Shakawe SSSS, Good Hope SSSS and Kang primary have been selected to pilot Office 365. He commended Microsoft for coming on board to assist the education ministry exploit ICT in schools for the betterment of teaching and learning through the Model ICT project.

He said Microsoft was not a newcomer in the ministry’s quest to enhance the education system, noting that the two have a three-year contract for the supply of Microsoft Office licenses for schools across the country.

“This relationship is founded on the shared vision that we want to develop a 21^st century learner and ICT is central to the realisation of this vision. I will ensure that we launch the five schools in November and continue with the remaining 15 schools and complete them in six months’ time,” the minister said. 

To this, he said the intention was to have schools which were completely ICT integrated, adding that this called for a strategy that would put words into action. 

He however, expressed disappointment that almost all schools in the country have computers that are not being put to good use.

“Sometimes it is not about how much resources one has, but the effort being put to good use,” he said explaining that such called for introspection as to why the education sector was not moving forward. 

Minister Arone, however, pledged to ensure that all the 755 primary schools, 308 junior secondary schools and 34 senior secondary schools are covered.

He also commended other stakeholders such as Kortex and Orange Botswana who were willing to provide content to enable full implementation of Microsoft solution.

Mr Arone highlighted the challenge of limited bandwidth in some schools to which he noted the ministry is exploring new technologies to augment the bandwidth.

For his part, Microsoft general manager for education industry Mr Harb Bou-Harb buttressed the fact that education is important,  emphasising that impowering student with ICT knowledge was a step in the right direction.

He called for the need to find the right energy to continue with the journey of equipping pupils with ICT knowledge for the benefit of all.

Thutonet coordinator Mr Nicodemus Merafhe said in an interview that through Microsoft office 365, teachers and students would be able to access some learning materials through an online e-content application called Kortex.

He said the software could be used both online and offline while through Thutonet.ac.bw, leaners would be able to communicate and collaborate on assignments and projects with others in different schools while the teacher could also give immediate feedback on the pupils’ learning process. 

He said Maitlamo National ICT Policy chapter 6.4, which talks of Thutonet should be explored as it propelled government to supply gadgets for schools, capacitate teachers and avail e-content.

Mr Merafe explained that things were shaping up as the government has so far rolled out 50 gadgets to 68 schools in Ghanzi, Kgalagadi and Mabutsane sub-districts through the BOCRA-Universal Access Service Fund. 

He said through ESP, 317 schools have benefited from the supply of gadgets while the Japanese Embassy has donated to eight  schools in rural areas. 

Orange Foundation has also supplied five schools with gadgets. ENDS