SA's first 'space age' school
2 October 2003
Nelson Mandela this week opened the world's first "click-and mortar" school, empowered by state-of-the-art learning materials and teaching tools.
The project is a partnership between the Gauteng education department, digital satellite company WorldSpace and its information technology partner, Fujitsu Siemens, to provide "space-age" education for disadvantaged children.
WorldSpace has invested R4.5-million in Freedom Park Primary, in the Freedom Park informal settlement outside Johannesburg, backed by donations of computers by Fujitsu Siemens.
Freedom Park Primary's 750 learners - previously taught in two shacks without electricity - now have a school boasting 27 modern classrooms with facilities that include a staff room, media centre, library, toilets, running water and solar power.
The project is the brainchild of WorldSpace chief executive Noah Samara, envisioned in 1998 when World Space opened offices in South Africa.
"Education is the biggest gift one can bestow on a human being, because it can transform the lives that it touches," Samara said.
WorldSpace's satellite-based solution enables the delivery of Internet content - some of the best updating material available worldwide for learners from grade 0 to 12 - to the school's computers and network servers without using telephone line connections.
"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, adding that education was one of the cornerstones of true empowerment.
WorldSpace and Fujitsu Siemens will deliver similar systems to various African countries, and have already started rollouts in Kenya and Rwanda, while pilot projects are in progress in Mauritius, Ghana, Namibia and Senegal.
Source: BuaNews
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