MultiChoice Resource Centres roll out to Bots

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Thursday August 13, 2009 00:00

The project targets the youth and is seen by its originators as a resource for high quality learning. Through the initiative MultiChoice provides equipment for use by the schools, while the government must ensure there is electricity, safety of the equipment, as well as buy in of the initiative.

Early this week Multichoice organised training with 40 teachers from the 20 schools. One of the project consultants for Multichoice Africa, Mahlatse Sithole said the teachers are now well equipped to go out there and plough the seed.

Already the programme is running in 676 resource centres in 28 countries across Africa. Sithole says the Botswana programme will be reviewed after three or four months to see if the schools would have learnt anything new. ' We will not give up. It is working in 27 countries. It is up to the 20 schools to prove it is worth rolling out to the rest of the country,' Sithole said at the launch held at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC) on Tuesday.

In a separate interview, Sithole said they would not require the government or schools to subscribe to DStv, adding that the initiative is completely free. She said in South Africa the program was rolled out to 30 best performing schools, while in the rest of Africa it is being rolled out to the most disadvantaged, including in Botswana.

Sithole said after starting with 50 schools in Nigeria for the program, now 121 schools are enjoying the MultiChoice Resource Centres.

'The buy in we need from the government is simply the commitment. The schools need tapes, electricity, security or safety of the equipment we will be providing. Otherwise it has no monetary obligation.   Secondly, we need the buy in because these are government schools and there is no way we can select the schools without information from the government as to which schools they regard as most disadvantaged,' she explained.

Sithole applauded MultiChoice Botswana public relations executive Tshepo Maphanyane for successfully fast-tracking the programme after it stalled for five years.  Maphanyane said when she learnt about the initiative upon assuming office a few years ago, she was so excited she did not waste time, and pursued implementation of the project.

Amongst those who attended the launch were members of parliament, representatives different government departments, and representatives from different parastals, and private businesses