E Cape school's R1.7m ICT centre
Richard Mantu
24 June 2004
Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela has urged learners at Sinikiwe High School in Mdantsane, East London to use the knowledge they acquire from their new information and communication technology centre to teach their community how to market their art and crafts to international markets.
Speaking during the official opening of an R1.7-million ICT project at the school on Sunday, Balindlela said the learners would be benefiting their communities in bridging the digital divide between them and their urban and international counterparts.
The new ICT centre has 20 personal computers, a new toilet block, and renovated classrooms, and was sponsored by the Telkom Foundation and Total Facilities Management Company, a Telkom subsidiary.
Balindlela said the students could make a difference in many people's lives by assisting them to access trade markets.
She said teaching rural women about the Internet and setting up their own website to
advertise their art crafts and traditional attires would increase their chances of reaching international markets.
"Even the production of traditional African gear was in great demand oversees, but local mothers and fathers lack the means of accessing such markets", Balindlela said.
The refurbishment of the school was initiated by Telkom chairperson Nomazizi Mtshotshisa, who noticed the dilapidated state of the school on a recent holiday in the Eastern Cape.
Mtshotshisa, who also addressed the ceremony, said many students lacked additional skills required to make it in the world of technology and economic activity, adding that such skills were pivotal for the development of the economy.
Source: BuaNews
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