By the end of this year 30 000 devices should be given to learners in rural and remote areas. This is the hope, determination and call that MTN South Africa’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Charles Molapisi has made to the telecommunications industry.
He spoke during the launch of ‘Connecting Every Child’, which was held at the MTN Innovation Office in Fairland, Johannesburg on Tuesday, 6 August 2024.
This launch, attended by the Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, Communications Minister Solly Malatsi, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and over 100 learners from different schools, follows the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) 2019 pledge to provide each learner with an ICT device with access to digitized Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSMs).
“With these devices, we are providing you with the keys to unlock the world of knowledge, resources and opportunities that can help you shape your destiny and contribute to the progress of our nation. The future is in your hands and MTN is here to walk the journey with you, to empower you and to enable you,” Molapisi said while addressing the learners.
The Basic Education Minister, Siviwe Gwarube, highlighted why it was important for every child to have a smart device for their learning.
“The world is no longer where South Africa is, the world has moved on. My vision for education in the country is we need to stop looking at ourselves as just the South African story. I want us to get to a place where we can compete with other global economies. This means, when a learner leaves school at the end of matric, it is important that a child from our country and one from an Asian country, can compete at the same level. The reason why this is important, hopefully in years to come we can stop looking at education as a social portfolio, it is an economic portfolio. It is the lever to getting people into work. We need to teach people the skills that the economy needs,” Gwarube said.
She added that connecting every child is critical for the DBE as it ensures that there is not only quality education but it also allows learners to have access to devices and data.
Meanwhile, Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi, also thanked MTN South Africa for the contribution they are making to ensure learners can receive the devices and therefore quality education.
“Technology is almost always a tool, and not an end on its own. The interactions you have as learners with these devices is primarily for educational purposes. As learners, you have the advantage that the barriers to excellence that many who came before you are removed. The only option you have, is to excel. The ultimate beneficiaries are young South African learners, who we want to succeed,” Malatsi said.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, who has called for ‘smart schools’ for years, says every classroom must have a learner with a tablet and a teacher using a smart board, as this is the future that South Africa needs.
“We have a responsibility to change how we teach our children. We have a responsibility to incorporate the latest technologies that can allow our children to be part of a better world. These are the children who will create jobs and turn the economy of our country. We need to plant new ideas without shame, and it starts in the classroom,” he said.
He acknowledged that there are several things that still need to change in the country, including how teachers are taught.
“You cannot train a teacher how to write on a chalkboard, when you need to teach them how to connect to the internet. You cannot, in this era, have a teacher who is not ready to use devices as a tool to teach our children. We have invested a lot of money as the Gauteng province, and I am proud that all Grade 12 classrooms in the township have a smartboard and all of them are connected to the internet” added Lesufi.
Molapisi concluded by challenging other telecommunications companies.
“We are challenging the CEOs in the public and private sector, those who are our partners to bring their share of their contribution to the 30 000 devices. I am challenging the CEO of Telkom, the CEO of Vodacom. MTN is putting forward 2000 devices to this big call of 30 000 devices, and I say ‘my colleagues and friends, may you do the same,” Molapisi said.
Closing off and addressing her ‘poonkies’ (learners) in the auditorium, Gwarube said: “Regardless of where you come from, that does not have to determine your trajectory in life. I don’t want parents to bankrupt themselves just for you to have a qualification. I want all of you all to be able to say, ‘I easily can access quality education in my country’”.