13 Jul 2021

The partnership between the Ministry of Basic Education and Orange Botswana aimed at providing e-learning in schools will ensure continuity in learning.

Speaking at Orange digital schools roll out ceremony recently in Matsitama, Minister of Basic Education, Mr Fidelis Molao said e-learning technology would allow teachers to teach without interacting with students physically.

He said there had been cases where school calendar was affected, resulting in schools being closed down due to a high number of COVID-19 cases.

Minister Molao pointed out that through the Smart Botswana programme, all government institutions were going to tap into the WIFI main pot placed at the dikgotla across villages in the country.

So far, Mr Molao said the digitisation process had started at primary schools and roll-out to junior and senior secondary schools had already started to ensure there was connectivity in the learning system throughout all the grades until pupils graduate to tertiary education.

Meanwhile, director of Corporate and Legal Affairs at Orange Botswana, Ms Lepata Mafa-Nthomola explained that Matsitama Primary School was the 10th school to receive the programme this year.

She said already six schools in the South East District and three in Kgatleng District had been connected, noting that in the Central District, six more schools were to follow behind Matsitama and Zoroga primary schools.

All these schools are part of the 26 schools to be connected this year, said Ms Mafa-Nthomola, further noting that as a profit making organisation, Orange Botswana did not only look at making returns, but it wanted to plough back into the communities withing which it operated to address the outcry of poor school results.

Through the roll out programme, she said the school would receive a package containing two dust proof padlocked cases, raspberry servers with pre-loaded content, power packs, one video, a projector, a  computer screen, 50 tablets and power racks for pupils.

The project is a partnership between Orange Botswana, the Ministry of Basic Education and Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. Ends