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Dear all,
I wish to thank all consortium members and HP employees engaged in this great adventure where company financial commitment is as important as the passion to make a positive difference to Education in Africa.
The inauguration of the Bugulumbya e-School was a milestone and we will undoubtedly learn much from this first, but important step.
This newsletter is yours. It has the objective to keep the consortium community-at-large - the project staff and our respective employee base, informed of the activities, challenges, learnings and progress. Consortium partners and staff members are welcome to contribute their experience, views and anecdotes to bring concrete examples of progress in the field.
Together, let's be the successful consortium with NEPAD!
Best Regards,
Olivier Suinat
Managing Director, Africa
Hewlett-Packard
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Research has shown that more than 40% of Africa’s population is 15 years and younger. It is the continent’s youth that are most likely to be affected by the digital divide, highlighting the need for a cross-continent programme for the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills and knowledge.
Launched publicly at the Africa Summit of the World Economic Forum on 12 June 2003 in Durban, the NEPAD e-Schools initiative aims to provide an end-to-end education solution that will utilise ICT to connect schools to the NEPAD e-Schools network and the Internet. In addition to connectivity, solutions will provide education content and learning material, as well as establish health points at schools in support of the NEPAD e-Health programme.
Widely considered to be the most ambitious programme of its kind in the world, the initiative will deliver tangible results to 600 000 schools cross the continent. Delivery targets are to convert all African secondary schools into NEPAD e-Schools within five years of implementation start date. Additionally, African primary schools are set to be turned into NEPAD e-Schools within ten years of implementation start date.
A number of private companies, including HP, have committed to leading and sponsoring demonstration projects for a period of 12 to 18 months in 16 participating countries. Six e-Schools will be launched in each of the participating countries; Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.
The e-Schools initiative falls under the direction of the e-Africa Commission, the NEPAD ICT Task Team responsible for developing the NEPAD ICT programme and implementing related projects and is compliant with NEPAD’s Millennium Development Goals.
Global Demographic Trends in the 21st Century, Jeffrey N. Jordon, Futures Group
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HP has a vision of e-inclusion: This means to provide people with greater socio-economic opportunities by closing the gap between technology empowered and technology excluded communities. This vision lies very close to that of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission.
HP’s technology vision for education in Africa does not entail simply installing hardware in schools. Central to HP’s approach is sustainability, ensuring that solutions implemented today can be built on for many generations to come. By working with governments, like-minded business and organisational partners and communities, HP develops complete solutions that address every aspect of education, including learning content.
The HP e-Schools solution will not only provide ICT infrastructure, but will also address issues around health and empowering the community through information. |
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Following nearly two years of planning, HP announced plans to launch the continent’s first NEPAD e-School at the World Economic Forum Africa Summit in Cape Town on 1 June 2005. Representatives from the Ugandan Government, the NEPAD e-Africa Commission and HP signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 1 July 2005 in Johannesburg, paving the way for the launch of BugulumbyaSecondaySchool, BusobyaVillage in the Kamuli District as the first NEPAD e-School.
On 18 July 2005, less than two months after launch plans were announced, His Excellency, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda officially launched the Bugulumbya e-School, attended by approximately 5 000 country officials and members of the community.
With a staff complement of 22, including 18 teachers, BugulumbyaSecondary School provides education to around 270 learners. Set in deep rural Uganda, the school underwent a radical transformation as a result of the cooperation between the community, the Ugandan Government, NEPAD and private enterprise.
Ugandan partners, Computech Uganda and Venture Communications, played a central part in the launch of the first e-School in Uganda. Venture Communications provided significant logistical support in setting up infrastructure such as transport, civil work and commissioning of the energy solution. Computech Uganda contributed extensively to the project with hardware, installation, support and onsite implementation resources and services
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The principle of partnership is integral to the HP approach, including the company’s involvement with the NEPAD e-Schools programme. Partners to the HP e-Schools solution are: Canonical, Edupac, Edu-Touch, Eskom, Intel, Mergent Technologies, Mindset, Multichoice, Transtel and ZSE, supported by in-country HP channel partners.
Canonical provides EdUbuntu software, the education version of the Ubuntu operating system, support as well as technical resources during testing, implementation and support phases of the project.
Edupac delivers school administration software, open source, help desk and multi-user platform installation and support.
Edu-Touch provides touch screen PCs, education software for the e-Health points as well as content integration software.
Eskom provides electricity and power solutions as part of the HP Consortium.
Intel Corporation provides resources and Microprocessors for the ICT hardware implemented as part of the solution.
Mergent Technologies provides logistical support to the project.
Mindset Network provides education and health content.
Multichoice provides DSTV decoder and satellite dish equipment as well as television sets and video recorders
Transtel provides telecommunications infrastructure and connectivity.
ZSEtv provides video education content.
One of the criteria for the success of the e-School programme is the encouragement of local business participation. Reinvestment into the community by local businesses plays an essential part in stimulating the ICT-economy of a country and ensuring future growth in the local technology industry.
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Each group of partners participating in the demonstration phase of the NEPAD e-Schools project have been allocated seven countries in which to roll-out their solutions. In each country three secondary schools per consortium have been selected from a mix of urban and rural schools, with at least one school per country currently without electricity. HP will roll-out its e-School solution in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda.
In the months to come a further two NEPAD e-Schools will be launched by HP and its partners in Uganda. These schools will be situated in the country’s Masaka and Kampala districts. Current roll-out schedules include plans for the launch of the Kampala e-School in November – December 2005.
Further country roll-out plans include the launch of the first South African e-School in October 2005 and the launch of the first Egyptian e-School in November 2005 by the HP Consortium.
Ongoing evaluation and monitoring of the demonstration schools will be conducted by Canadian-based organisation, The Commonwealth of Learning, with assistance from infoDev will evaluate the demonstrated solutions and make recommendations to participating countries on the roll-out of technology solutions to remaining schools.
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