The Khanya Project, a joint venture between the Ce-I and the Western Cape Education Department, uses ICTs to support the educational curriculum throughout the Western Cape by providing content for teachers and learners and supporting e-literacy. Of 432 schools in the province, 276 had been equipped with an ICT lab by the end of January 2005, many of them in rural areas such as Merweville, Baartmansfontein and Wellington.

Some of the most exciting applications break away from the traditional computer lab to bring ICTs into everyday teaching. Science teachers, for example, can link a microscope to a TV or computer monitor so an entire class can benefit from sharing a limited resource.

The Ce-I takes care to avoid dumping technology where it won’t be used effectively: training teachers to use ICTs in the classroom is an essential component of the Khanya project, with support provided for as long as it takes until teachers are skilled and confident.

SCHOOLS ADMINISTRATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM PROJECT (SAMS)

Access to relevant content is an important aspect of improving education; another is giving administrators and managers tools to run schools smoothly and efficiently, so that the most time possible is spent in actual teaching. The SAMS project aims to do just that, providing a way for even the most remote and isolated schools to upload administrative information to a central server automatically and fast. This not only cuts the paperwork burden for schools, it also supports better planning and administration. There is also a project under way to make all management information available over the web, so it can be accessed anywhere, anytime by those who need it.