VP Mohadi donates computers to Beitbridge school . . . as Government drives digitisation in schools

Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau

VICE-PRESIDENT Kembo Mohadi yesterday donated 20 laptops, 10 desktop computers and an assortment of seed for a horticulture project at the Beitbridge Mission School where he learnt between 1963 and 1969.

The donation of computers, he said, was part of the Government’s initiative to drive digitisation in schools.

He also delivered 50 by two kilogrammes sugar beans seed, 30 by two kilogrammes cowpeas seed, 100 by two kilogrammes pearl millet seed, 20 by two kilogrammes beans seed, 200 litres of paint and a borehole fully equipped with a water tank powered by solar to the school.

The Vice-President also had an opportunity to tour the school and his old classroom, which is a two-storey building under construction that will house eight classrooms. Already the Government has connected 32 rural schools Matabeleland South Province to the internet as part of promoting e-learning.

The project was carried out between 2018 and 2023, the programme seeks to bridge the digital gap and widening learning materials resource base, schools in remote areas.

“Information Communication technologies (ICTs), are key enablers of economic development to the extent that the entrenchment of ICTs across all national development strategies is critical for attainment of universal access to Information Technology by 2030,” said Vice-President Mohadi.

“ICT enhances national priorities. It gives advisory services, automation or mechanisation and irrigation, precision farming such as drip irrigation, fertigation and smart greenhouses and the use of satellite technology to provide real-time information on areas under different crops enhances mining research and adoptions of computerised mining cadastre Information Management System among others.

“When it comes to ICT access and usage, the country intends to have internet access at village level by 2030, through the extension of optic fibre backbone, and last mile connectivity.”

He said the donation would go a long way in enhancing learning and embracing digitisation at the Beitbridge Mission Primary School. This, he added, extends beyond the provisions of ICT to include the wider welfare of the institution.

Vice-President Mohadi said it was important for children to always learn to be self–sustaining in rendering services that enable continuous development to produce artefacts and other goods that assist them in augmenting teaching and learning.

“The youths of today are our future and we want them to learn the virtues of adulthood today so that they do not develop donor syndrome,” he said.

Vice-President Mohadi said the Government during the NDS1 period targets to increase internet penetration rate from 59.1 percent in 2020 to 75.42 percent by 2025.

“Further, the mobile penetration rate is also expected to be increased to 100 percent by 2025,” he said.

“It is, therefore, envisaged that all education institutions will be connected to the national internet access network by 2025 to enable a complete digitisation programme for all private and public institutions in the country”.

In an endeavour to bridge the digital gap and widening learning materials resource base, schools in remote areas were connected to the internet. It is understood that the internet society will give students the capacity to understand and appreciate how best to exploit the environment and available resources.

The Second Republic is in an overdrive establishing state-of-the-art ICT labs in schools countrywide in a bid to renew learning methods and establish a more active collaboration of students and the simultaneous acquisition of technological knowledge. It is understood that the move is a fulfillment of the mandate given by the President to the Ministry of Communication Technology Postal and Courier Service to ensure that no one is left behind in the digital age.

Last year President Mnangagwa also donated 300 computers to 10 schools in Matabeleland South Province as part of the thrust to enhance digitization and embrace the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the education sector.

He said these will make sure that children are prepared for the new world that is going digital from a tender age.