20 March 2003, Cape Town ? IT entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth?s Shuttleworth Foundation today launched the Western Cape?s first fully functional Open Source Learning Centre at Nooitgedacht Primary School in Bishop Lavis on the Cape Flats as part of an ambitious new strategy to promote education through open source in Southern Africa. (Open source is information and software programmes available free of charge through the Internet.)
The Shuttleworth Foundation funds projects aimed at increasing an awareness of maths, science and technology.
The Shuttleworth Foundation funds projects aimed at increasing an awareness of maths, science and technology.
The first of three new computer centres that will be established by The Shuttleworth Foundation at selected local schools during the next few months, these computer labs will serve as pilot projects for the further roll-out of open source into the region, giving thousands of young learners first-time access to computers and assisting them to partake in computer-based education in maths and science.
Says Thomas Black, the Shuttleworth Foundation?s Open Source Specialist, ?The Shuttleworth Foundation is a firm believer in the use of open source as an effective economic solution to providing people with affordable access to information and communication technology.?
Nooitgedacht Primary was selected as a suitable candidate for the establishment of a computer centre, having successfully implemented a number of initiatives (like feeding schemes, sport and art activities) to enrich and enhance their learners? lives and education, despite being faced with adverse conditions in the community it serves.
?We welcome this initiative having felt the need to computerise Nooitgedacht Primary for some time,? explains Mr Y, the School Principal. ?From our total of 900 students, less than 100 learners had ever having touched a computer. However, with the use of open source we now have a computer centre that is cost-effective, easy to operate and easy to maintain? he adds.
In line with The Shuttleworth Foundation?s objectives to promote open source within education, Nooitgedacht was provided with 22 computers (serving as thin client workstations on the network), network equipment and infrastructure, as well as temporary funding for the Linux server. The Shuttleworth Foundation also provided the technical expertise for the completion of this project. Included in the agreement was the requirement that the school would use the computer centre to make their paper-based curriculum available online.
A primary objective for the establishment of the Open Source Learning Centre was the transfer of the implementation team?s skills to the particular school. By sharing the knowledge gained from this process with their counterparts, Nooitgedacht will, in turn, be able to assist other schools in benefiting from open source whilst building a self-sufficient user community, says Black.
Based on the success of the Shuttleworth Open Source Learning Centre at Nooitgedacht, which fuelled requests from other schools for similar solutions, the need arose to establish an organisation that could facilitate the establishment of future labs. Thus, the Shuttleworth Linux Computer Bank initiative was established in collaboration with Hilton Theunissen (a volunteer project manager), ZUZU Software Foundation and Pentech E-Computer Club, aimed at refurbishing donated computer equipment and then deploying these in open source learning centres ? similar to that of Nooitgedacht.
Pentech?s E-Computer Club volunteered to assist with the set-up of these Open Source Learning centres as part of their community projects, with over 30 members pledging their support without ever having worked with open source.
Besides their involvement contributing greatly to getting these centres up and running, they also benefited from an enriched skills set to prepare them for future careers in open source.
To further increase the number of people skilled in the use of open source, especially in the GNU/Linux operating system, The Shuttleworth Foundation approached Nooitgedact Primary to serve as a hub for future open source learning activities - The Shuttleworth Linux Computer Bank workshop. This saw Nooitgedacht Primary making an extra classroom available (located next to the initial Open Source Learning Centre) to be fitted with testing equipment and tools as a future workshop for the Pentech students to refurbish the computers for deployment at other Open Source Learning Centres.
Shuttleworth Linux Computer Bank stakeholders would facilitate this set-up process, project management and provide Pentech?s students with the necessary technical guidance. In addition, the school also made a container available where all donated equipment could be stored.
?This project has snowballed as a result of the collaborating partners? passion to promote the success and development of open source. Students are successfully being introduced to the world of open source and while they learn, their skills are used to support and service the need of communities. We believe that this project has immense potential to make information technology more accessible as a learning tool, and are waiting in eager anticipation to see what direction this projects steers itself in next,? Black concludes.