The country’s Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has joined a growing group of high profile people advocating for the use of tablets in schools countrywide to improve the quality of education.
Ramphosa made this call during the “big switch on” event at Boitumelong secondary School in Tembisa, Johannesburg. During the event he informed the audience that the country had adopted a national e-skills plan, with education as a key part of the plan.
Noted the Deputy President during the event: “One of the factors constraining economic growth in South Africa is the relative shortage of e-skills,” he said at the “big switch on” at Boitumelong secondary School in Tembisa, Johannesburg.”
The Gauteng Education Department is launching the Smart Schools project at seven Gauteng township schools. It 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 R17bn. All high school children would be provided with a tablet computer and Grade seven pupils in primary schools would be trained to use the devices.
