Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDoE) and Vodacom partner to empower teachers

Vodacom in partnership with the Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDoE) recently launched an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centre as part of the Vodacom Mobile programme to develop teachers in technology in the Lady Frere District.

The Lady Frere centre has been equipped with a computer room which has 50 computer terminals, education aids, internet connectivity and training facilities. This centre will not only help schools but the community at large as they will have access to free internet and on-line e-learning.

According to Suraya Hamdulay from Vodacom, the centre is expected to train 1 400 teachers from the 172 schools every year in the Eastern Cape. “Teachers will be trained in basic use of technology and will have access to curriculum content and teacher aids through cloud computing which is an internet based warehouse of education content” explained Hamdulay.

Lady Frere is the only district to have this facility provincially, apart from the other eight other provinces that also have benefited in this initiative by Vodacom. This centre is connected to Vodacom’s head office through a Virtual Private Network which serves as a pipeline for information that connects and delivers content to participating schools and teachers.

Addressing school Principals who attended the hand over, Vodacom Executive Head: CSI projects Mthobeli Tengimfene said that Vodacom approached the ECDoE to choose a District in the province and Lady Frere was therefore chosen. “We decided this time that we will focus on teachers who will then feed the information they have to the students.

Thanking Vodacom on behalf of the Education Department, MEC Mandla Makupula said that ‘it is partnerships like these that will ensure that in time all schools, rural and urban meet the required minimum norms and standards’. He added by urging the principals, teachers and the Lady Frere community to handle the facility with care for the coming generations.