28 Jul 2022

 The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), on Wednesday, donated ICT gadgets to pupils with special needs at Bonnington Junior Secondary School in Gaborone.

The items included four smart boards, four hard drives, four cameras and 20 tablets.

When receiving the donation, the Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Ms Nnaniki Makwinja, said the gadgets would help provide beneficiaries with access to online learning and promote inclusive education.

“The devices will enable learners to be exposed to a 21st-century classroom where they will get to interpret facts and interrogate the credibility of information published online,” she said.

Ms Makwinja said it was important that pupils with special needs were capacitated to access the online world, adding technology would help them stay motivated during the learning process.

Furthermore, she said learners would be exposed to media, information and literacy skills that were interdisciplinary in nature and essential for them to learn across all subjects.

The assistant minister also confirmed that the interactive smart boards with a pre-installed learner management system would be made available at Bonnington, Zwenshambe, Kgalemang and Makhubu junior secondary schools.

“The ministry has set up resource classes in 10 schools and the goal is to set up five yearly until all regions and schools are covered,” she said.

Ms Makwinja further encouraged teachers and learners to not only take care of the gadgets, but to utilise them for individualised learning and move away from the rhetoric of teacher-centred learning.

She appreciated the projects that UNICEF initiated for the benefit of Batswana, especially in the education sector.

UNICEF Botswana deputy representative, Ms Alexandra Illmer, said inclusive education was central to the organisation’s equity agenda globally and achieving the results for most disadvantaged children.

She said children with disabilities had ambitions and dreams for their futures, therefore they needed quality education to develop their skills and realise their full potential.

“This support is in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4 of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all and this support will help the ministry to move this important agenda forward,” she said.

Ms Illmer reiterated that the innovative approach to inclusive education also linked well to the village connectivity project under SmartBotswana where schools are connected to increase opportunities for learners and teachers to benefit from the availability of the internet.

She further encouraged teachers and school leadership to ensure that the resource centres were used to the maximum for learners to benefit from them. ENDS