05 Dec 2021

Orange Botswana has been commended for supporting digital transformation by donating ICT equipment to various primary schools.

Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe said this at an Orange Botswana Foundation digital schools handover event at which the company donated ICT equipment to Matopi Primary School on Friday.

He said the government, had realised that countries that were digitally advanced were able to achieve stronger economic growth, improved efficiency and productivity of the public and private sectors.

To that end government was prioritising digitisation in the hope of spurring on economic growth. This would make teaching and learning much more friendlier, he said.

He added that the Reset agenda called on everyone to think outside the box and differently from the past. If all embraced the agenda there would be greater citizen participation and all-round improvement in living standards, he said.

He said Botswana, as a middle-income country should seize the opportunity to become a high-income country by accelerating its digital transformation agenda by digitising its industries.

Dr Letsholathebe also said government was working overtime to ensure that all schools and institutions such as dikgotla were connected to the Internet so that everyone was taken on board.

He noted that government could not undertake the mammoth task alone without the help of the private sector and the business community. He commended Orange Botswana

Foundation for the donation, saying it was heartwarming to see the private sector supporting government initiatives.

He said Orange Botswana was helping to bridge the digital divide between children growing up in rural areas, and those in urban areas.

“Unlike urban schools which have computers, and have integrated ICT in their curriculum, the majority of rural schools cannot effectively include ICT training in the curriculum because they do not have computers,” he noted.

The minister also said research had proven that leaners who used new technologies solutions stood a greater chance of excelling in their studies as compared to those who did not.

“Your minds are our answer to our future dreams through the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

It is already happening in Japan, South Korea, America and here in Africa.

We do not want other nations to come and solve our problems when our children and young people can do it themselves,” said Dr Letsholathebe.

Last year Botswana approved the digitisation strategy, also known as SmartBots, which is geared at improving the quality of life for individuals, increase business opportunities for the private sector amongst others.

Speaking at the event, Orange Botswana sales and business partner, Mr Moses Tshwanelo explained that the company started donating ICT equipment to schools in 2018 and that the donation to Matopi Primary School donation was the 44th of its kind.

He explained that this year they identified 22 schools and Matopi was the 21 to receive its donation among the lot.

Mr Tshwanelo further explained Orange Botswana had chosen top provide ICT equipment in the hope it would improve the academic performance of primary schools in rural areas.

He said prior to the launch of the project, Orange Botswana invested in the development of digital learning material for upper primary school mathematics, English, agriculture and Setswana.

“We then donated tablets to be used by pupils to access this specific content,” added Mr Tshwanelo.

He explained that the learning material was designed to be interactive and fun, adding it created desire and excitement on the part of the pupils Mr Tshwanelo noted that teachers were also trained on how to use the tablets as a teaching aid while pupils were given an opportunity to explore the gadgets, to navigate them and find subjects and topics of their interest.

He said training was done for both pupils and teachers to make usage easier and interesting.

The chairperson of North East District Council, Ms Florah Mpetsane promised Orange Botswana that the donation would be put to good use.

Orange Botswana Foundation donated 50 tablets, 50 headsets, two servers pre-loaded with content that can be accessed via wi-fI connections, one projector, one projector screen, a laptop and sanitisers. Ends