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President
Museveni of Uganda
Offers
Words of Encouragement to Students
After Officially Launching Africa's First E-School.
Africa's
first NEPAD e-school is launched in Uganda
The first NEPAD e-school on the African continent, -- the
Bugulumbya Secondary School in Busobya Village in the Kamuli
District of Uganda - was launched by Uganda's President Museveni
on 18 July 2005.
"The NEPAD initiative is welcome and should be applauded as
it is in line with our goals of reducing illiteracy and poverty.
This project will not only benefit the people of Bugulumbya but
the whole nation", President Museveni said.
"The Uganda Ministry of Education will definitely carry on
with this programme and the Government of Uganda will put aside
a budget for it", he added.
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The
Bugulumbya school has computers and accessories, server,
internet, electricity, mobile telephone booster mast,
computer desks, DSTV, e-health facility, and trained
teachers.
"This
is the first time that African governments, NEPAD and
the private sector are cooperating on an ICT project on
this scale and scope in the NEPAD framework," said
Dr Henry Chasia, Deputy Executive Chairperson of
the NEPAD e-Africa Commission. |
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"It
is through such partnerships that we shall be able to impart
modern ICT skills
and knowledge to the youth, to enable them to face the
challenges of the ever-changing information society and global
economy.
"This technology will enable the young people of this
village to tap into the global mainstream of information and
knowledge, where they will learn and play, expand their
imagination and their creativity and collaborate with their
peers across the African continent and across the world ",
he said.
NEPAD e-Schools Initiative scoops global award
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) has
received the Global Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year
2005 award for its NEPAD e-schools initiative, which is managed
by the NEPAD e-Africa Commission.
The prestigious award was received by Dr Simeon Adekanye,
Nigerian Deputy Ambassador to the UN, at the recent Intelligent
Community Forum (ICF) conference in New York.
"The scope and intention of NEPAD's plan, the degree of
success NEPAD has had to date in generating both financial
support and the private sector's collaboration, as well as its
understanding that satellite communications are key to broadband
access in most areas of the world, led ICF's committee to
acknowledge NEPAD in 2005", read a statement released by
ICF during the award ceremony.
ICF also noted that, in its effort to connect the schools to the
internet, and therefore to the global infrastructure where
knowledge workers and future opportunities will be created,
NEPAD showed total commitment to leveraging the capabilities of
satellite technology.
"This is the first time that African governments, the
private sector, foundations, development agencies and civil
society organisations have come together for a common ICT
project developed and driven by Africans, and for Africa",
said Dr Henry Chasia, Deputy Executive Chairperson of the NEPAD
e-Africa Commission.
"Broadband information and communication technology will be
key to the success of our e-Schools Project as we intend to
procure satellite capacity in bulk and make it available for the
connection of NEPAD e-schools to the internet", he added.
An Africa-wide satellite network
The 10-year NEPAD flagship e-schools initiative involves the
establishment of an Africa-wide satellite network that will
connect the schools to the internet as well as to points within
each country from which educational content will be fed to the
schools on a continuous basis. It also involves ICT training of
teachers and students, content and curriculum development,
community involvement and participation, and establishment of
'health points'.
The NEPAD e-schools demonstration (demo) project has been
identified as a critical initial step for the implementation of
e-Schools Project.
Six schools, from each of the participating countries will
initially benefit from the e-schools demo. The countries are
Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa,
and Uganda.
The Heads of State Governments will officially launch the first
NEPAD e-schools in their respective countries and the first
e-school has just been launched in Uganda.
The partnership created by the NEPAD e-Africa Commission to
fulfill the objectives of the NEPAD ICT Programme is known as
the Information Society Partnership for Africa's Development (ISPAD).
Private sector partners leading the consortium for the NEPAD
e-schools demonstration program are Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft
Corporation, satellite operator INMARSAT, Oracle Corporation and
Cisco Systems.
* The Intelligent Community Forum (www.intelligentcommunity.org)
is a special project of the World Teleport Association that
focuses on the uses of broadband and information technology for
economic development by communities. The ICF conducts research,
creates conference content, publishes newsletters and presents
annual awards for intelligent community developers. The World
Teleport Association is a nonprofit association of teleports,
intelligent communities, and their trading partners in 20
nations around the world.
* * * * *
For more information, contact: Samuel Mikenga,
Manager, Public Communications, NEPAD e-Africa Commission Tel: +27
12 841 4083 (office) Tel: +27 725 296 769 (mobile)
Fax: +27 12 841 4094 www.eafricacommission.org
posted 1 August 2005 * * * *
*
posted 11 December 2007 /
update 27 June 2008
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