A further focus of the project, which is part of larger research being conducted together with the University of Fort Hare and Rhodes University at Dwesa 30km South of Tafalehashi, is the sustainable use of ICT technologies in marginalised rural communities. We will be looking at ways to harness the knowledge society tools available on the Internet, to make the installation of the lab itself sustainable. The community should be able to earn enough revenues through ICTs to sustain the installation. The project itself has budgeted maintenance costs for 5 years, to give the community time to take over.

The project is currently moving out of the planning and designing stage and into an implementation stage. Site visits by contractors have already been conducted. The lab should be ready in mid-May 2008. Contractors, engineers and technicians will be able to bunk down at the nearby Tafalehashi Trading Store - thanks very much to Peter Venter and his family for the invitation!

Solar power: the system will have a peak power of 5400W. This will be plenty for 10 hours of operation with 25 computers running in the lab. Usage of standard parts will secure maintenance through the regular departmental scheme. In addition, we have got Alan Holder, the technician from the trading store across the road on board. Alan runs the Trading Stores combined wind and solar systemsand will be able to keep daily or weekly tabs on the running of the solar installation as well as taking care of minor glitches that the teachers cannot take care of. Mr. Zinto is the schools physics and science teacher and he will supervise the daily logging of voltages. The batteries will be housed in a special battery room, which will keep temperatures constant and should ensure a lifetime of 12+ years on the batteries alone.

Computer lab: after much deliberation and discussions with Inveneo and SolarNetOne, we were still very keen to provide the project with laptops, as these can be safely stowed after use, and can also be integrated into classroom teaching, as they are mobile and have a wireless network link. They can even be used in parts of the school that do not have electricity. The Dell Foundation, who have partnered with SELF at Myeka High School in Kwazulu-Natal in very successful fashion, very kindly donated equipment to the project. The laptops which have built in WiFi, obviate wiring of the class with ethernet. Security of the laptops will be ensured in cooperation with the teachers at the school. On the laptop side, we have been in contact with OLPC-ZA and are still hoping to get OLPC laptops at the school to supplement computing facilities for all learners.

Content: the fact that we will have an internet connection opens up a world of opportunity as far as content is concerned. We do also have a donation from LearnThings with multimedia content for children from ages 12-17, and we are sure these will be put to very good use by the learners. A specific focus of the project is to engineer a web 2.0 platform together with the classes, so that a lot of content will in fact be able to come from the learners themselves, especially in conjunction with the nearby networked schools.

Training: there are several training opportunities. LearnThings will be coming down from Johannesburg to hold workshops for their curriculum standard content. The Department of Education (Curriculum Section) is training all educators in the Eastern Cape to integrate computers into their teaching plan. The department will be able to fast-track some of our teachers for this programme. Rhodes University and the University of Fort Hare will also be getting involved in this aspect, especially as far as adult and after-hours education is concerned. Finally, we are negotiating with East London based ITEC to do several months’ basic training.

Internet Connectivity: Initially, VSAT or a 3G technology (Edge – Vodacom or MTN) are the solution of choice. However as new networks go up - in this aspect we are in discussion with the Nelson Mandela Institute and the Universal Service and Access Agency of SA. We are considering the construction of a wireless bridge to either an ADSL enabled exchange or to a point at which we can joint a new network being constructed for Technical Universities (FET Colleges)  in the Eastern Cape in a joint venture with Lower Saxony, Germany.

Other Potential Schools

The selection of schools has been finalised. The two satellite Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) involved in the program will be:  

Bafazi JSS - a school that is also part of the school renovation programme being managed by the Nelson Mandela Institute in East London.

Kwantshunqe JSS - a proactive school, which is setting standards as far as teacher engagement is concerned.

Teachers at the schools will be included in all training activities. Learners will have the opportunity of using the main lab at Zwelenqaba after hours. During school hours, educators will be encouraged to allow computer related activities in class to improve motivation and learning potential as well as broadening horizons.