Grade nine pupils in a school in Tembisa, Johannesburg listen attentively to their teacher as she asks them to work out an equation in a financial literacy class.<\/p>\n
But instead of scribbling the answers down in a notebook, the pupils each work out the equation on a tablet and their answers pop up on a big computer screen at the front of the classroom.<\/p>\n
Boitumelong Secondary School is the first of seven Gauteng township schools to “bury the chalkboard” and adopt new technology to teach.<\/p>\n
Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi addressed media at the school on Tuesday, a day before the official launch of the project.<\/p>\n
“Tomorrow morning in this school, we are officially burying the chalk board, we are officially burying the duster, we are officially burying the chalk,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Gone are the days when they have to write in exercise books and hand in the assignment.”<\/p>\n
The department hopes to roll the project out to all Gauteng township and rural schools by the end of the 2017\/2018 financial year at an estimated cost of R17 billion.<\/p>\n
All high school children will be provided with a tablet as well as grade 7 pupils in primary schools in order to train them to use the devices.<\/p>\n
“We are making this investment so that we can compete with the best countries.<\/p>\n
“We were influenced by the thinking of South Korea, which is the best in terms of children who can read, write and calculate.”<\/p>\n
Township schools that scored 100 percent in the 2014 matric exams would be the first to benefit from the project.<\/p>\n
“We want the schools which are performing, to give them the capacity to do so,” Lesufi said.<\/p>\n
Lesufi said township pupils should not have to suffer because of where they live.<\/p>\n
“I want to radicalise education in the township so that they can compete with any other learner.”<\/p>\n
Each school has a pupil and teacher centre where lessons can be prepared and homework done.<\/p>\n
A dedicated technician would be placed at each school to help iron out glitches.<\/p>\n
The schools were provided with unlimited data, including 4G connectivity, to ensure the pupils could work from home.<\/p>\n
The internet costs at the seven schools had been fully paid for by other government departments and the private sector.<\/p>\n
“We as government, as the department of education, have paid nothing in terms of connectivity. We went to government departments whose mandate is connectivity and asked them to connect the schools,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We’re quite proud that the private sector in the country, when we shared our vision with them, they came on board.”<\/p>\n
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