Attended the "Big Switch On" event, the Boitumelong secondary school, the first school in School in South Africa going digital

Prof. Bea Lacquet, the Wits Deputy Vice Chancellor of Information, Knowledge and Infrastructure Management and me attended the "Big Switch On" event. The Boitumelong secondary school, in Tembisa, about 50 km north-east of Johannesburg:

http://www.boitumelong.co.za/

has become the first public school in South Africa to go digital. This was a high-profile event organised by the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education of the Gauteng Province, Panyaza Lesufi and the Government of the Gauteng province. The Deputy President of South Africa, few Ministers and deputy Ministers, the  Premier of the Gauteng Government, city Majors and other personalities attended the event.

Managed to take a peak at some of the classes. One can see that each student is assigned a tablet and each class has digital boards. The school is connected to the backbone of Gauteng with a 1 Gb/s network, which is quite a bandwidth, taking into account the location of the school. This school, together with other 6 in the area will serve as models to roll over the implementation of connectivity and computers in the classroom. Gauteng has about 2100 state schools.

The tent was packed. Many enthusiastic students. Tons of fun, indeed.

MEC Lesufi opens the main event after plaque unveilings in different parts of the school and officials from central Government have taken their seats

There was even a bit of music

and some dancing

The Minister of Basic Education, Angelina Motshekga, addressing the audience and introducing the Deputy President of South Africa

The Deputy President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, addresses the audience.

Managed to grab the MEC's attention