In a noble gesture committed to bridging the gap in the information technology and communications sector across communities, Botho College recently donated ten computers to schools in Manxotai, Maposa and Sepako Villages.
The college also made available some of its staff to teach the beneficiaries how to use the computers.
Sandwiched between the Central and North East districts, the villages are part of communities across the country that lag behind in information technology.
“We are pleased to have had the opportunity to contribute to the development of these grassroots communities,” said Priya Iyer, the Director of Development at Botho College during the handover.
“Through this donation we believe we are enhancing the quality of Botswana’s future professionals. For them to excel in computing, they need to grasp the basics from an early age; this will enable them to grapple with the more complex areas in the future.”
Cognizant of the shortage of human resource in the sector, Botho management, through the e-Skills Foundation, identified six of their college graduates who would teach the pupils the use of ICT to be stationed at the schools for a period of six months.
The training will follow a structured curriculum called NIIT@School.
Besides covering a populace of over 600 students, the ICT training will be extended to the community leaders in the likes of dikgosi, teachers, clinic personnel, to mention a few.
“It is our firm belief that through providing an enabling environment ÔÇô through the computers and the Botho College graduates who will be teaching here, we are making significant strides towards the building of ICT capacity in Botswana. We also believe that capacitating these young learners will go a long way towards the fight to eradicate poverty,” concluded Iyer.
A private tertiary institution registered with the Tertiary Education Council and Botswana Training Authority, Botho College has been in operation since 1997 and has been traditionally offering IT programmes from NIIT campus, another tertiary institution.
The institution operates in three locations in Botswana, namely Gaborone, Francistown and Maun with a new state of-the-art campus developed in Gaborone at Botho Education Park next to Kgale Hill. Each location has fully networked and equipped computerised classrooms and practice rooms.
As a token of giving back to the community it operates business, the college established a foundation that provides technical assistance towards ICT capacity building to the communities in general on a ‘not-for-profit’ basis.
The foundation operates from the College and allows students and staff to be involved in IT based community activities.
