Madiba Launches World's First 'Click-And-Mortar' School
The project is a partnership between the Gauteng education department, World Space and its IT partner Fujitsu Siemens Computers to provide space age education for disadvantaged children
The school that previously used two shacks and candlelight to teach 750 learners was transformed into 27-classroom school with a staff room, media centre, library, toilets running water and power.
Founder, Chairperson and CEO of World Space Cooperation Noah Samara initiated the Freedom Primary School Project in 1998 when he opened the World space Offices in South Africa.
'Education is perhaps the highest gift one can bestow on a human being not just because of how it helps transform life, but because how it can transform of all the lives that life touches,' said Mr Samara.
World Space satellite based solution enables delivery of web content to schools with no need for phone connection. It catches web content onto PCs and network servers at schools.
The content bundle contains some of the best material available worldwide for learners from grade 0 to grade 12 and is continually updated.
Madiba praised learners and teachers of Freedom Park for their success in using satellite-based technologies to enhance educational outcomes at the launch of the school yesterday.
Fujitsu Siemens computers donated desktop computers powered by Nova-Tec's iNova System.
'We are committed to education as this is the conduit through which our market of tomorrow is transported,' said Mark Wilson, managing director of Fujitsu Siemens Computers.
He added that he believed that education was one of the fundamental cornerstones of true empowerment, and through the innovative solution at Freedom Primary they might be training tomorrow's' leaders.
World Space and its IT partners plan to deliver similar systems to numerous African countries.
Rollout has already commenced in Kenya and Rwanda, while pilots are being conducted in Mauritius, Ghana, Namibia and Senegal.
This Article was first published in Allafrica.com