Issued by Department of Education, Gauteng
14 February 2001
GAUTENGONLINE.COM
When President Mbeki opened parliament recently he spoke of a past that was characterised by 'endemic and widespread poverty and gross imbalances in levels of development and the distribution of wealth, income and opportunity'. Premier Mbhazima Shilowa also made the same observation when he opened the 7th Gauteng Legislature a few days ago. As part of government's fight against poverty and underdevelopment, the President has established the National Commission and International Task Force on Information Society and Development.
The President's announcement is a strategy to ensure that South Africa does not fall behind on to the rest of the world as a result of the digital divide.
It is currently indisputable that South Africa shares approximately $US 10 billion of the estimated $US 2 trillion world-wide market of Information Communication Technology (ICT) goods and services. This surely should indicate how the ICT sector holds promise of being a significant and growing contributor to assist our society to build a better life. This sector has the unique opportunity, both directly and indirectly, to become an enabler for other sectors, to contribute in a substantial manner to sustainable economic development, social upliftment, and empowerment.
Since 1994, we have seen the establishment of a number of thriving indigenous companies in Gauteng, some of whom have achieved multinational status. Telkom SA is a major role player in the ICT sector internationally. We have further seen the growth of foreign owned multinational enterprises in South Africa and particularly in Gauteng. This brings both challenges and opportunities for our province to thrive.
We have leveraged ICT as the main conduit through which its mission of "smart public education service delivery" should be attained. With the help of the GautengOnline.com project, our education system has now more than ever been placed at the cutting edge of curriculum delivery.
The good news is that Gauteng Provincial Government has set aside R500 million in the next three years, for that purpose. We will provide access to the Internet and personalised e-mail addresses to 1.5 million learners by 2006. This will position our education system to achieve its objectives of the 21st century where the intelligence, talents, energy and enthusiasm of our learners will be utilised to the fullest. This shall further re-direct the energy and talents of the learners from guns, crime, drugs and gangsterism, and make them part of society's efforts to create jobs and build our economy.
Whilst we nurture the talents of our learners through new forms of technology, educators will continue to compliment them with the desirable qualities of honesty, integrity, tolerance, diligence, responsibility, compassion, justice, respect and so on. This will ensure that our education system produces global citizens with good values and societal morals.
GautengOnline.com will revolutionise education in the province by creating a networked public schooling system, which can harness the full power of ICT and thereby massively improve the flow of information and resources through the education system. This will directly benefit educators, learners and administrators alike.
This project is an addition to the Gauteng Department of Education's existing programme of ensuring that each school in the province has access to at least two computers. As we all know, the department is well on target to achieving this goal.
The combined effect of the two projects, therefore, will ensure that every school in Gauteng will have at least 25 computers. The consequence is that every learner will have direct hands-on experience of working - and playing - with computers.
Learners will be able to become computer literate far more rapidly and effectively than if they only had occasional access to computers. They will learn very quickly about this extremely powerful technology that is transforming the world at an unimaginable pace. Learners from grade nine onwards will benefit from this project, in that they will be able to obtain certified qualifications in Information Technology. They will be equipped with the necessary skills and training to obtain jobs in the industry.
An important mission of GautengOnline.com is to establish a dedicated web-based mail system. Learners will quickly realise that the Internet is also an immensely effective communications tool. All school learners will be encouraged to acquire their own personal e-mail addresses. They will become citizens of the global village.
The project will contribute towards building the human resources capacity of the province and the country through the provision of quality education.
Furthermore it will contribute towards stimulating positive economic activity in the country through the creation of a strong local IT industry that has the capacity for IT development and innovation.
It is clear that a project such as this can only be sustainable if the educators themselves are fully computer literate. Thus the project will focus on ensuring that at least five teachers from every public school are given professional development support. This will build their capacity to use computers to improve the quality of their classroom teaching.
In the long run it will also help to increase the pace of spreading computer literacy throughout the community. And we know from experience overseas that computer literacy and access to Information Technology have an unmatched capacity to create new jobs and generate wealth, and thus break the cycle of poverty in our communities.
An ancillary project of GautengOnline.com is to develop an education portal on the Internet that will be linked to existing projects focusing on similar goals. This portal will at the outset provide access at least to three pilot curriculum delivery vehicles.
The purpose of these pilot curriculum projects is to design models for improving access to and sharing curriculum resources in classrooms across the province. GautengOnline.com will undertake these pilot projects in co-operation with those in other provinces or currently being implemented by NGOs and other organisations.
Thus GautengOnline.com will provide impetus for the systematic improvement of the quality of public education. It is intended to supplement rather than replace the education system and the units and structures responsible for its implementation.
Another most important goal is to ensure significant improvements to the administration systems and Management Information Systems (MIS) used by the Gauteng Department of Education. We have the potential for harnessing a provincial ICT, improve administration and escalate management information data from school, to district, and to provincial levels.
GautengOnline.com will be integrated with Gauteng's recently launched Education Information System initiative involving the development of a single, web-based administration and management system spanning schools and department offices. It will also be integrated with other Government administration and Management Information System initiatives.
The GautengOnline.com project deserves our full commitment and active support. It is definitely one of the most far-reaching and visionary educational projects ever launched in this province and South Africa. We shall see our new generations of learners being well and truly launched into the exciting new world of information technology and ultimately into the new Economy, which it is creating.
Our smart province shall thrive, and so shall our country and continent.
Let us build a knowledge-driven society!
I thank you.