26 Feb 2020

There is general acceptance of the need to build resilient communities and promote inclusive growth through provision of good quality infrastructure to rural and urban population, especially primary schools.

Speaking at the Orange Botswana Foundation 2020 Stakeholder Engagement meeting in Gaborone on February 25, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Mr Setlhabelo Modukanele said one of the best ways to ensure efficiency was to increase private sector participation in infrastructure and the provision of the ‘Digital kit’ in primary schools.

“As we seek to create awareness on the significance of a knowledge-based economy, it is equally important to appreciate collaborative efforts such as Digital Schools Project, which provides a platform for knowledge-networking and strategising between government and Orange Botswana to facilitate lifelong learning for primary schools across Botswana,” he said.

He further said the gesture would go a long way in providing a conducive environment for improved pass rate and an opportunity for learners in primary schools to share practical experience of ICT in education in geographically and culturally diverse regions such as Sekhutlane, Etsha 13 and Ntlhantlhe.

For his part, Orange Botswana chief executive officer Dr Patrick Benon said the Digital Schools Programme notably addressed strategic priority 10 of the Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP), which is ‘Utilization and Integration of ICT and e-Education’ and the Thuto Net Programme, part of the National ICT Policy ‘Maitlamo’.

Dr Benon said since the inception of the programme in 2018, the foundation had equipped 14 schools in Botswana and donated 700 tablets, 28 servers and 14 projectors. 

He said on average, 500 students per school benefitted from the project, therefore 7 000 students were benefiting from the digital school programme.

“In the initial scope, the plan was to equip 45 schools over a five-year period. We have decided to increase the scope by 50 per cent and to extend the programme to 22 additional schools, meaning that in total we are going to equip 67 schools, donate 3 300 tablets, 132 servers and 67 projectors over the five years, therefore this programme will impact around 33 000 students in Botswana.

He further said that in addition to the additional equipment to be donated, they have agreed with the Ministry of Basic Education to expand also the scope of the digital content beyond primary school curriculum and to pilot the digitisation of junior secondary school learning material. ends