Project equips 13 schools with smart tech gadgets

Atsikana E-learning Project, which seeks to enhance education among girls through technology integration, has distributed communication gadgets to 13 secondary schools in Kasungu and Dowa districts.

The devices include 104 tablets and 52 laptop computers and Chayamba, Natola, Madisi, Chankhanga, All Saints and Mphomwa are among the beneficiary schools, according to the project’s co-initiative coordinator Joseph Chirwa.

The items, which were sourced in collaboration with the United States Embassy, are part of the project’s mission to provide information and communication technology (ICT) gadgets to 160 000 students in the two districts.

In an interview, Chirwa said each of the schools got eight tablet phones, two laptop computers and four iPads.

“Currently, we are targeting 20 schools from Dowa, Kasungu and Mzimba. Seventy percent of our target are girls in rural areas because they are the ones that drop out more than boys. We want to motivate them,” he said.

Speaking after receiving their share of the gadgets on Friday, Kasungu-based Chayamba Secondary School head teacher Rodgers Banda described the support as timely, saying it had come at a time poor performance was haunting schools following the Covid-19 interruptions.

“As a country, we are suffering from the effects of Covid-19 which has delayed curriculum coverage and, in a similar way, it has taken away the love that students had for education resulting in poor performance.

“So, these gadgets are going to help the students catch up as they will be accessing much of the information about science subjects. Secondly, the gadgets are going to prepare the students for tertiary education where most learners from rural areas struggle to use technology,” he said. Atsikana E-learning Project expects to distribute more gadgets as it recently disclosed that it has secured 500 iPads from United States technology giant, Google.