The rise in technology has been capitalized by many sectors who are finding it needful to employ some of their services online thus consumers can access them mobile gadgets. It is through these tech gadgets that people can conduct researches, make bank transactions, and communicate using different social media applications. Worth noting is that the South African government the department of Basic Education recently unveiled Tablets and 4G in seven Gauteng township schools on the 15th of January 15, 2015.
MEC Panyaza Lesufi said the paperless leaning system will be made available to each pupil; the tablet will be equipped with lesson plans. These devices can also form part of a reading material considering that they have library section that allows a user to download books and store them in the library.
Lesufi said teachers can revert to using textbooks in the event system collapse or power cuts, “We’ve got the highest level of connectivity so that we don’t disrupt schooling.”
Apart from tablets, the schools benefited from broadband, wireless and 4g connectivity. To address technical glitches associated with these gadtes, government introduced The Harry Gwala Technical Centre where people would take their tablets for repairs. To inconveniences of waiting for a tablet while it’s being repaired, pupils will be offered with a temporary tablet, government placed a dedicated technician who will address such problems.
Government has employed security measures to safeguard this project; a security company has been put in pkace to ensure safety at schools. The MEC said all devices have a tracking device hence pupils should not risk their lives when someone tries to mug them.
“Everything is on a server. If the learner loses a tablet, when we replace the tablet, all the information the learner has lost can be replaced.”
Thembisa School is one school that benefited from this new paperless learning system.