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Pupils understand content better with smartboards and gadgets – but the introduction of technology in schools should have commenced at the foundation phase to prepare pupils to embrace technology.
This was the view of some teachers during an interactive meeting with Gauteng education officials hosted by Vastratech in Midrand this morning.
Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi was expected to attend but was unable to because of an emergency meeting, organisers said.
Atteridgeville’s Sefako Mapogo Makgatho Primary principal Jane Tsharane, who was among those who indicated that tablets and smartboards should have been introduced to the foundation phase, said this would have created a solid foundation for young children to grow up appreciation the project.
“I’ve got tablets at school that have been donated and you can see how these children appreciate and are learning to use them quickly,” she said.
Tsharane said she started by teaching children games and then moving on to serious lessons.
She said she believed that if the project started at lower levels that would produce pupils who appreciated the project.
Andile Ncontsa of Penreach, a non-governmental organisation working with primary schools, said he believed it was best to introduce technology in primary school.
“We need to start in Grade R. Any time after that is too late,” he said.
Some high school teachers said the tablets were of great assistance and improved teaching and learning.
A teacher from Soweto’s Curtis Nkondo school, Concern Mabunda, said the paperless project had had a positive impact in his school.
“Pupils understand content better with smartboards and gadgets than using board and chalks. We’ve improved a lot. The traditional method was bad. Now pupils are more interested in learning,” he said.
Gauteng East’s district director, Somikazi Chabalala, said there was a move to introduce the paperless system in lower grades.
She said the department was also training teachers on how to work with smartboards and gadgets.
Education expert and retired educationist Dr Nhlanhla Nduna-Watson said the department targeted the senior phase because the country was “result driven”.
“Our education is judged by Grade 12 results that’s why efforts have been made to provide support in grade 10,11 and 12. ICT is an enabler to give support to teachers and pupils,” she said.
Lesufi has previously expressed his dismay at tablets being stolen from pupils, sold or pawned by pupils on the black market, or offered as collateral to secure loans – often leaving schoolchildren without essential learning tools.
In an interview with City Press in May this year Lesufi said scores of tablets meant for high school pupils popped up in foreign countries and blamed social issues for the losses.
He revealed at the time that an international tracking company contracted by the Gauteng education department had managed to locate some of the unreturned or stolen tablets belonging to Gauteng pupils, which were smuggled out of the country and shipped as far away as Pakistan and India.
Lesufi expressed shock and dismay at a report from the tracking company, which showed that some of the tablets had found their way to other provinces in South Africa and to other countries.
