Hi-tech classrooms help pupils familiarise themselves with computers

A school in the heart of one of the poorest suburbs of Johannesburg is about to become a centre of computer teaching and training.

Using recycled machines donated by large Western firms the Ivory Park school in South Africa is getting a dedicated computer room that give pupils hands-on experience of new technology.

Teachers at the school have also been getting training so they can pass on key skills to pupils.

The project to create the computer room is part of a ambitious project to use recycled machines from large Western firms to aid development.

Training trainers

Before the computer room was built and kitted out with the machines, the only technology at Ivory Park school was a single telephone line.

Once the project to kit it out with computers is complete, the school will have 40 machines in a training room as well as five other machines for use by the teaching staff.

Trainers have to be trained too

The machines have been donated by US pharmaceuticals giant Eli Lilly.

The Ivory Park township lies on the edge of Johannesburg and is home to more than 700,000 people. The school has about 1400 pupils, few of whom are familiar with computers.

The creation of the computer classroom and donation of the machines has been organised by the Digital Partnership that takes old computers from Western firms and refurbishes them for use in development projects.

The Digital Partnership programme aims to put up to 188,000 computers into South Africa over the next two years.

As well as driving the take-up of computer skills in schools, the project also tries to create an infrastructure around them to ensure they are maintained and repaired properly.

Projects to put recycled or second-hand machines into schools in Africa have faced criticism.

Incompatible software, a lack of trained staff and the cost of upkeep have caused problems for some of the schools that have received computers.