SchoolNet South Africa celebrates 10 years of achievement
SchoolNet South Africa, a not-for-profit non-government organisation, has been empowering
teachers through ICT integration since 1997.
SchoolNet’s 10th Birthday celebration, held in Johannesburg on the 15th of November 2007,
provided past and present friends, current and former staff members, provincial officials,
corporate partners and trainers with an opportunity to reflect on SchoolNet’s development.
Those present enjoyed reliving SchoolNets achievements whilst watching nostalgic snapshots
from the past ten years including photos of early projects and VIPs such as Nelson Mandela,
Cyril Ramaphosa and Mr Jay Naidoo cutting ribbons and unveiling plaques about computer
donations in remote schools.
The original idea of SchoolNet organisations came from volunteers working at various provincial
SchoolNets, particularly in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and The Eastern Cape.
With support from the South African National Department of Education they worked together
to form a more powerful and all inclusive national organisation. Initial funding from the
Canadian IDRC (The International Development Research Centre of Canada) helped formally
establish SchoolNet South Africa for the purposes of implementing national educational ICT
interventions.
SchoolNet South Africa is identified in the e-Education white paper as the implementing agency
for international professional development initiatives in the country. In addition to participating
in the national consultative forum for the implementation e-Education Initiative, SchoolNet
works closely with provincial ICT co-ordinators to help build capacity amongst officials, assist
with strategic planning and project manage ICT teacher training rollouts.
Over the years SchoolNet has been involved in a range of large scale projects aimed at
empowering teachers with ICT skills. Some of the early bigger projects that were undertaken
included training more than 2000 teachers whose schools had been equipped with Super
Centres by the Telkom Foundation and more than 3000 teachers whose schools received
refurbished computers through the Thintana i-Learn Project.
Support from corporate companies both national and international helps to ensure that
SchoolNet can continue to train teachers and develop new materials. SchoolNet SA is
Microsoft’s local implementation partner for developing and delivering a range of teacher ICT
integration training programmes as part of the five year Partners in Learning intervention.
SchoolNet has trained more than 8 000 educators through this PiL initiative since January 2005,
including using the Partners in Learning materials to conduct training sponsored by other
corporate companies such as Lonmin Mines and Multichoice. SchoolNet is also the country
implementation agency for the Intel Teach programme in South Africa as part of Intel’s world
wide effort to help educators integrate computers and the Internet (ICT) into teaching that
enhances learning. More than 50 000 teachers have been empowered through this project since
2002. As from 2007, SNSA is also partnering with the Oracle Corporation in their two
educational ICT programmes, ThinkQuest and Think.com.
In addition to providing short courses to teachers, SchoolNet South Africa also helps teachers
achieve formal qualifications in ICT integration through providing the content, tutoring and
assessment services for the Advanced Certificate in Education in ICT Integration through the
University of KwaZulu-Natal. Intel® Teach is currently used by a number of universities as a preservice ICT integration module.
Executive Director, Janet Thomson says “We must thank the pioneers of those early days who
persevered in the face of adversity to promote the concept of schools using computers and the
internet in their teaching – it was not an easy mission”. As SchoolNet celebrates 10 years of
history, they look forward to the new challenges and opportunities that await them. Thomson
says, “We are still living in exciting times now, as the National Department of Education is
planning to equip schools nationwide with the necessary infrastructure – SchoolNet will be
there to help ensure that teachers can maximise the potential of this investment and that
learners reap the benefits of improved and innovative teaching.”
Present at the 10 year Anniversary event were (L to R) Rod Grewan CEO of SchoolNet South Africa from 2002 –
2004, Janet Thomson CEO of SchoolNet from 2005 to the present, Denis Brandjes CEO of SchoolNet from 1997 2001