GAUTENG SCHOOLS GOING PAPERLESS

2 quire exercise books and notepads are going to be a thing of the past. Gauteng schools will soon be going paperless.

The MEC of Education and Youth Development, Panyaza Lesufi, on Friday the 11th of October 2019 unveiled the Department’s e-Learning Content and Online Assessments Platform at Soshanguve East Secondary School.

Paperless classrooms were identified as one of the key deliverables for the MECs 100 days programme for this administration.

The platform will equip learners for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Although the earlier phases of the ICT rollout at identified schools have been successful thus far, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) now intends on improving its approach by availing the Digital Content to ICT Schools, through the use of the Content Platform.

This platform will not only increase access to Digital Content, but will also enhance the opportunities for continuous Assessment Activities to support curriculum delivery in ICT enabled schools.

“Taking notes or cramming when a teacher delivers a lesson in class will be no more. Imagine parents setting their own tests for their children and the system marks the test /examination immediately and further the system provides reasons on why the learner got wrong answers.Imagine a world where all parents can log on when assisting their children with home works? A world where teachers’ lessons plans are freely available. Imagine no further,” said MEC Lesufi.

“We also aim to encourage and support the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) model towards sustainability of e-Learning in our schools. This model enables schools that have their own ICT initiatives to benefit from the investment made by the department on the digitizing of content, by having this content availed to them through the Platform”, said MEC Lesufi.

Furthermore, this launch is actually happening at the opportune time as Grade 12 learners are hard at work preparing for their year-end exams. Matriculants are starting with their exams on the 16rd of October 2019.