An integrated training programme to set up technical service centres in support of education in African schools

Johannesburg, 21 June 2004

Building technical and managerial capacity among a community of African schoolnet practitioners linked to the local establishment of technical service centres as facilities for ICT access, refurbishment, deployment, maintenance and teacher training for their educational use in schools, forms the essence of SchoolNet Africa’s Campaign for One Million PCs for African Schools according to its Executive Director, Ms Shafika Isaacs-Bardien. “Once we have an established management and support system in place at local level, will we be able to process large volumes of computers and related ICTs  for use in schools”, she adds.

SchoolNet Africa, (www.schoolnetafrica.net), an African-led NGO which promotes learning and teaching through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in African schools has just concluded the development of its training course entitled Technical Service Centre Manager’s Course in partnership with the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA).  This comprehensive course, available in English and soon in French, covers the spectrum of activities from sourcing and procuring PCs ( particularly second-hand PCs), to setting up technical service centres as maintenance and support centres, to the environmentally-responsible disposal of end-of-life PCs, from an African perspective. It contains a wealth of reference materials and case studies on the African experience and integrates issues of gender equality, making it the first of its kind in Africa.

The first 15 of a targeted 200 schoolnet practitioners has commenced their online training on this course on Monday 14 June which will be followed by a hands-on face to face training programme for one week on 12-16 July 2004 in Johannesburg. The training will lay the basis for the set-up of schoolnet-based technical services centres in an estimated 10 African countries, starting with Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

"We will do more than just refurbish PCs. We will offer education solutions to schools, provide maintenance and support, engage in teacher training and educational content development", says Payton Sondashi from Computers For Zambian Secondary Schools who is one of the programme's participants.

The course is available at:
www.schoolnetafrica.net/fileadmin/1MillionPCsTraining/Index.htm

For more information contact Ms Sara Kyofuna
at s.kyofuna@schoolnetafrica.org