Kobe Ramokgadi Academy goes digital
EZULWINI – Kobe Ramokgadi Advanced Learning Academy has moved from paper age to digital learning.
This migration was launched on Friday at the school premises in Ezulwini.
Kobe Ramokgadi Advanced Learning Academy has expanded access to high quality digital learning, to improve the learning experience of the pupils. The school launched a digital learning programme aimed at reducing barriers in learning.
Five learners were presented with Lenovo tablets with extended keyboards, Eswatini MTN sim-cards and monthly data (1GB) to be utilised for homework by the learners.
This was after the school had a lengthy meeting with parents and agreed on the move of migrating from paper learning approach to e-learning.
Flexibility
This move would provide learners with flexibility in meeting their educational needs, while also improving their learning experience and building digital literacy and other transferable skills. Parents will also have a portal that will enable them to access the devices to monitor the learning of their children.
Present during the launch were children of the late Jeff Ramokgadi, who are the directors of the school; Tshepheng and Jezzy Ramokgadi. Also present, Sizwe Mamba from Lenzwe Technologies, John Kunene from Van Schaik, Patric Tsela the Head teacher and Linda Ratau the Deputy Head teacher of the School.
Addressing the pupils, Mancoba Dlamini, the Head of Department for Information Technology, said launching the digital learning programme came at the right time and would be of great help to the learners. “We will control the gadgets using a certain domain, where we will monitor the applications that will function in these devices,” Dlamini said. He also revealed that these devices were insured.
Dlamini also said the school was already on a transitioning plan to move from paper learning to digital even before COVID-19.
In an interview with the management, it was highlighted that the need for such a programme was visible even during the COVID-19 era. The head teacher said the learning initiative would make the learning process easier since it would allow the learners to receive work and engage with the teachers even out of class.
“This was an idea of the school and we then engaged the parents who showed an interest,” the Head teacher, Tsela said.
Ratau said even though some parents showed resistance at first, they were glad that this launch was a success. “We are hoping that this launch will make a difference,” she said.
Partnership
Sizwe Mamba, from Linzwe Technologies working in partnership with Van Schaik Bookshop, said this was a step in the right direction. He expressed hope that many schools would jump into the digital learning initiative since times were slowly changing. “We hope that even the schools which are teaching the local curriculum in the country will migrate into digital learning,” he said.
The directors of the school, Tshepheng and Jezzy, said their aim was to develop the school and make sure that learners were getting the best education. “We are one of the first schools in the country to come up with this initiative,” Tshepheng said. He also said they had looked into the issues of depression, bullying and peer pressure were catered for. “In those tablets, those things are going to be added as code of conducts which will encourage learners to voice out their concerns,” he said.
Jezzy said this initiative would make learning fun. “I am supporting this initiative wholeheartedly,” she said.