South Africa Rural Schooling Gets Solar Internet Technology

Rural schooling across South Africa faces numerous challenges, with access to adequate facilities being one of the foremost issues being tackled by the education board and the government. Samsung Africa, with a new initiative, is partnering with other suppliers to provide solar powered mobile classroom facilities that are able to house students with electronic black boards being provided with electrification systems to support all modern teaching methods. Schooling in rural areas has long been without electricity, with Africa facing the problem of less than 25% of the entire education facilities having access to electricity, let alone modern teaching aids like the internet that urban schools often take for granted. This endeavour by Samsung Africa, starting with initial test in Boksburg South Africa, can house up to 21 learners and a teacher to fulfil the requirements and the recommended ratio of teacher to student in South African Education.

The mobile schools have been fitted to survive the harsh journeys, as well as the rough weather conditions in many of South Africa’s rural areas. Schooling is integral to the development of the rural youth, in order to better equip them for the challenges of life, and with the solar powered facilities there is sufficient power to maintain the electronics for a full teaching day of 8 hours and even to survive without charging for extended periods. The rural schools will be supported to teach the full k-12 curriculum, allowing a variety of learners to enjoy and benefit from the technology and teaching expertise of the mobile classroom. Already a wealth of sponsorship and aid has come to join the strong initiative, with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Trust, Microsoft and Teach South Africa all backing the initiative.

The network of internet systems is an arrangement of managed hosting with the South African Department of Education who is able to monitor the teaching through the use of wireless cameras and also have real-time interaction with teachers, no matter which rural school district they are in. After the initial tests in the Gauteng area are met with success in testing phases with grade 10-12 pupils, the units will be deployed and sent to the Eastern Cape, where quality rural schooling is at its lowest in the country. All the details of the classroom interaction will be saved with hosted backup facilities through the 3G internet services and used to provide feedback and offer solutions to newly found issues.