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South Africa: Statistic South Africa donated 7,500 mobile devices (tablets) to the Mpumalanga Department of Education an Occasion of the Official Handover Ceremony held at Acorns to Oaks Secondary School in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality on Thursday, 18 May 2023.
The Department will use the donated tablets to pilot a full-scale rollout of the Ubuhlebuzile e-learning Programme in eight schools where all learners from Grades 8 to 12 will utilize the tablets for learning and teaching this year.
Acorns to Oaks Secondary School in Bohlabela District is one of the selected schools where all learners will benefit from this patriotic generosity from StatsSA. The collaboration between the Departments and StatSA is driven by a common goal, to promote access to learning through the use of technology.
Stats SA is working with other provincial education departments around the country on similar initiatives. Stats SA conducted its first-ever digital census population count in 2022.
The use of technology was a distinctive feature during the Census 2022 count compared to other censuses that the organization has conducted. Premised on the benefits of technology, its use, and ease of access to information, Stats SA partnered with the Mpumalanga Department of Education (MPDoE) to ensure identified schools within Mpumalanga benefit from this initiative.
The mobile devices add impetus to the improvement of the delivery of quality education in Mpumalanga Province as well as the rollout of the Provincial Ubuhlebuzile e-learning Programme which was launched in 2022.
The mobile devices donated by Stat SA will be loaded with educational content, which includes textbooks, study guides, previous question papers, and other supplementary education content.
“We saw it befitting that these mobile devices be used to transform the traditional ways of learning and teaching by taking advantage of the technology of things. We are truly convinced that these devices will not go to waste but are to be utilized to advance the modern teaching and learning trajectory.
We are grateful to the Mpumalanga Department of Education for their receptiveness and foresight. We wish that these gadgets will take the delivery of education to greater heights.” said, Statistician-General of South Africa Risenga Maluleke. In 2022, Mpumalanga Province launched the Ubuhlebuzile e-learning program, which coincided with the delivery of more than 63,000 tablets to grade 12 learners in quintiles 1 to 3 schools. These gadgets were loaded with the necessary educational content and have added value towards improved learner performance.
The MEC for Education. Bonakele Majuba is ecstatic about the donation from Stats SA since it contributes positively towards endeavours aimed at revolutionizing the education landscape of the province.
We are truly excited by the generosity and patriotic gesture of Stats SA. They had no obligation to include us on the list of beneficiaries, but their patriotic prowess compelled them to do so. We are therefore grateful for this benevolence, and we are making a commitment on behalf of the people of the Place of the Rising Sun that we will reciprocate by improving learners’ outcomes this time around and beyond,” MEC Majuba.
The Department of Education Deputy Director General, Senzangakhona Mkhwanazi and the Census Project Director, Calvin Molongoana, officiated over the occasion.
