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Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu, Senior Reporter
BULAWAYO City Council is working on connecting all its schools, pre-schools and libraries to the internet to guarantee comprehensive education in a bid to improve service delivery.
According to the latest council report, a number of council schools and preschools were equipped with fibre optics but it was not in use which was a disservice to learners and residents.
The Director of Housing and Community Services Mr Dictor Khumalo said connectivity had been provided for in all the schools and libraries votes in the 2023 budget.
“The department seeks to ensure that internet provision for learners and readers was accessible in all educational institutions.
It should be recalled that all Council installations save for a few that were in peri-urban areas had fibre optic connected/installed. However, in most cases this was available at the administration offices only,” said Mr Khumalo.
“In some schools only one person, the school clerk was connected instead of all offices in the administration.
The department would like internet connectivity availed to all administrators and extended to the computer laboratory for the benefit of the learners. This would ensure that teachers and learners access e-resources and can carry out research as well.”
He said the department proposed that School Development Committees (SDCs) should fund their internet services expenses, while it was appreciated that they had ongoing projects.
“Pre-schools would also pay for their own internet usage as this was on a small scale. Library connectivity had been topical and the Press had raised issues of there being no internet services in council libraries.
It would be ideal that the service was provided and where possible readers/users pay a token amount for accessing the internet services,” he added.
To ensure relevance and survival, council, with 15 community libraries, introduced the Inspiring Readers School library project that links almost all its schools to five hub libraries.
The City is also in the process of installing the Koha Library Systems.
Koha is the first free software library automation package, in use worldwide. Its development is steered by a growing community of users collaborating to achieve their technology goals.
According to the report, council library membership hasn’t been affected much by the advent of the internet and said the libraries have a membership of slightly over 60 000.–i@thamamoe
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