Computer needs in schools

Several of the schools where TEACH South Africa has placed its TEACH Ambassadors are in dire need of functional computers, printers and internet access. Erasmus Monareng Secondary School is one such school.

The school in Boksburg, on Johannesburg’s East Rand, has 25 defunct computers and six computers have problems with their hard drives.

In addition, the Computer Application Technology (CAT) department has only one working printer, which is used by all of the learners at the school.

This poses particular difficulties during exam time and there are frequently queues of learners waiting for a free computer so they can complete assignments on time.

Some have taken it upon themselves to learn how to fix broken computers and use their free time clearing the hard drives of viruses.

Equipment service and maintenance is costly and the school does not have the budget to continually fix machines when they break.

Sipho Ncala, head of the CAT department, has said that if the school receives just three computers it will make a huge difference to the learners.

“We have very serious problem at our school,” says Ncala. “We come from a very disadvantaged community where a number of our learners’ parents are unemployed.

“I realised that without computer skills it would be difficult for our learners to continue their studies at a tertiary level. So in 1999 I started teaching computer studies. Now we have learners from Grade 10 to Grade 12 taking the Computer Application Technology subject.

“We have 63 Grade 12s doing this subject this year, but only 25 working computers. For some of the topics we need internet, but our computers are not networked so we are only teaching the theory at the moment.

“Because we have so few computers, when it comes to exam time, we have to start at 6am and finish at about 9pm. We only have one working printer, so it takes about two hours to print out the exams.

“We’ve got the space for new computers, but not the resources.”

Yet, despite the odds, the school continues to excel – it achieved a pass rate of 98% last year, up from 87% the year before, according to Ncala.

“If we could just get computers it would really help us. We don’t need the latest computers, we just need computers that work.”

In addition to computers, the school needs two servers, six printers, air conditioners, a network and an internet connection.