By Sizwe Dlamini
In a bid to bridge the digital divide and alleviate poverty through education, the Minister of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Savannah Maziya has fulfilled a promise she made to two high schools by delivering 70 laptops worth E420 000.
Both St John Bosco Boys High School and Nqabaneni High School received the laptops yesterday.
The delivery of the laptops comes just 4 months after the Minister toured the aforementioned schools in January.
The donation for the laptops came from the Eswatini Communications Commission (ESCCOM) via the Universal Access and Service Fund (UASF). Worth mentioning is that ESCCOM’s Chief Executive (CE) Mvilawemphi Dlamini was present during the event.
Speaking at Malkerns during the handover of 35 of the 70 laptops the minister stressed that Africa and by extension, Eswatini was lacking great leaders due to a lack of education.
“To bridge the digital divide between Eswatini and the rest of the world and in the pursuit of equal education coupled with equal employment opportunities, the government is investing in education by upgrading the computer labs of these two high schools with these laptops. As the Ministry of ICT, we wish to make information more accessible to young people by increasing computer literacy.”
“The youth needs to become computer literate and this donation will help in bringing information and computer literacy closer to you, our wonderful pupils. These laptops are to be used by all of you and we urge you to take good care of them so that the pupils who use them after you will find them in good working condition. I urge you not to steal the laptops as you will be stealing another pupil’s future. I encourage you to work together with the government and receive this donation with an open mind so that you can grow up and become great, educated, and humble adults who we hope will become great leaders led by a good moral compass.”
She continued, “Eswatini and Africa by extension need integrity and credibility void of corruption and the abuse of women and children. Such needs can only be achieved with great and educated leaders. I need to stress that Africa and Eswatini lack great leaders. Gone are the days of leading with aggression, fear, and the abuse of others. In the modern world, leaders lead with intelligence, not with might. So, grow up and become great leaders of your families and your communities,” she said.
Maziya added that in the future government planned to bring more improvements to the schools like programers to teach the pupils how to program using state-of-the-art laptops.
“As leaders we make promises and we have to keep them. So I promised to deliver these laptops so now I have kept my promise and in the future, I will bring you programers to aid you in your computer studies” she added.
Also speaking at the donation was a representative of the Principal Secretary (PS) at the Ministry of Education and Training Bhekithemba Gama, Nanikie Mnisi who said that she and the Ministry of Education and Training were very impressed with the Minister of ICT’s turnaround time.
“As the Ministry of Education and Training, we are very happy to be working with the Minister of ICT in this important venture that will aid our pupils in their education and we are very impressed with Minister Savannah Maziya who within just four months fulfilled a promise that she made to these two high schools. We hope that her contribution and hard work won’t be overlooked,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Principal of St John Bosco High School Saverious Mduli promised that the laptops will allow the schools to deliver good results as the pupils will use them efficiently and effectively in this fast-developing world of quick information dissemination.