The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) will launch the national Teacher Laptop Initiative (TLI) in the province tomorrow (Saturday, 30 October 2010).

A total of 3 500 Western Cape teachers have qualified for the first round of the initiative.

The WCED has selected the teachers on the basis on seniority. Education authorities will implement the TLI in stages over five years, as funds become available.

The initiative forms part of a plan by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and other stakeholders to provide various resources needed to improve the quality of education.

The Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) is managing the national roll-out on behalf of the DBE.

“As a further mark of our appreciation of the efforts of our teachers in the Western Cape I am happy to announce that the first batch of recipients will also be receiving, from the WCED, a 4 gig flashdrive which I hope will assist our educators in making even greater use of the laptop technology provided to them through this initiative,” said Western Cape Education Minister Donald Grant.

The WCED has organised a trade show at the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute in Kuils River tomorrow to launch the initiative in the Western Cape.

The trade show will provide teachers with an opportunity to talk to service providers and to learn more about how to use laptops to support teaching and learning. About 400 teachers have confirmed that they will attend so far.

The DBE tendered for service providers in 2009 and has appointed 12 who will provide the laptops, software, connectivity and insurance.

The service providers have agreed to provide laptop packages to teachers that include:

• A laptop
• Software worth about R15 000
• Internet connectivity ranging from 250 Mb to 1 Gb per month, usually worth between R140 and R290 a month
• Insurance
• Five-year warranty
• Finance costs

Teachers will pay the difference between a subsidy paid by provincial education departments of R130 a month and the cost of the complete package, ranging from R250 to R390 a month, depending on the package chosen. The repayments are over five years.

Teachers can buy from any supplier of choice. However, only those buying from accredited suppliers will be able to pay for the packages using stop from their salaries, according to the tender with service providers.

Partners in the initiative will provide training and coaching to teachers who have not used laptops before, to ensure that the laptops used fully to support quality teaching and learning.

“We believe that by integrating technology more directly into educators lives it will assist in making teaching more enjoyable, organised and professional,” said Minister Grant.

“Having a personal laptop for example, can assist our educators with their administrative tasks, lesson plan development and can be used for further research and development. It will also improve the communication levels between educators and their parents and between schools and the WCED -in turn helping us to provide better levels of service,” he said.

“This is what this initiative sets out to achieve and we will be monitoring its progress closely. However, we are confident it will contribute significantly in supporting our educators - giving them the opportunity to professionally manage their work, like the professionals they are.”

For enquiries, contact Bronagh Casey:  072 724 1422 or brcasey@pgwc.gov.za.

Visit our website: http://wced.wcape.gov.za