iTMaster, a managed services and IT consulting business, is pleased to announce that it has been appointed by its partner Intel, to provide a host of IT solutions to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) as part of the department’s national disaster support for affected schools’ programme. The agreement will see the delivery of core IT admin resources and mobile library units to specified schools ravaged by the recent flooding in the province.
It’s through its RISE programme that Intel identifies projects with its partners that will directly impact attaining its goal to create a more “Responsible, Inclusive, and Sustainable world, Enabled through technology and our collective actions”. Through its partnership with iTMaster, an Intel Education Partner and member of the Intel Skills for Innovation Initiative, the two will assist the DBE in KZN to alleviate the pressure felt by several schools that suffered technology losses during the recent floods.
“2020 put a laser focus on how disproportionate education in South Africa is, particularly for those children who had no access to technology, couldn’t move into a digital schooling environment, and as a result just didn’t go to school for two years,” says Stanton Pillay, CEO at iTMaster. “It was because of this that, as iTMaster, we decided to focus more of our efforts on partnering with like-minded organisations to work towards providing solutions to the education crisis in South Africa.
“As an organisation, we have a big hairy audacious goal to have a positive education-based impact on a million students by 2024. But we will never achieve that without partnerships like the one we have with Intel,” adds Pillay.
As per the agreement, iTMaster has been tasked with procuring, deploying, and delivering IT equipment to the administration teams of 11 schools in the province. Further, the project includes the procurement, development, deployment and delivery of five mobile digital libraries. Each library contains ten laptops, a content server that can be accessed online and offline, and a mobile charging trolley.
The digital libraries are not only a source of learning for students and teachers. Their mobile nature means they can be moved around the schools to where they are needed most. This negates the need for costly security solutions as they can be wheeled into a strongroom or moved out of the school to “higher ground” in the event of further flooding.
iTMaster will also provide professional development services to teachers, providing them with the necessary skills to effectively engage with the technology deployed and pass these skills on to learners. The point of this draws on the idea that better-equipped teachers can better equip and lead their students through learning.
“At iTMaster, we are forever pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with technology. We are even exploring the potential use of satellites, partnering with fibre network and telco operations, and exploring available data to determine the best way to expand access to technology and learning across the African continent. And as we make a positive impact in South Africa, we want to emulate that model and, in collaboration with our partners like Intel, take it into the rest of Africa,” ends Pillay.
The Intel Skills for Innovation Initiative (Intel SFI) empowers decision-makers and educators to adopt technology to create innovative learning experiences that actively engage students in all learning environments—virtual, at school or blended. By inspiring teachers and learners to reach their full potential through a technology-supported, skills-based approach, the Intel SFI Initiative guides them to build their skills to maximise learning outcomes and prepare students for a changing, technology-dominated world.
