One of the biggest changes you notice when visiting a school in the UK, comparing today to ten years ago, is the technology available to teachers and students; computers, tablets and interactive whiteboards. This technology is used to enhance lessons, to give students access to new information sources and to help students develop new skills useful in the world of work. At Link Ethiopia, we aim not only to help cultural exchange between the UK and Ethiopia we also want to close quality gap that exists in education.
We aim to improve the attainment of students, to help them develop IT skills and to make lessons more fun by providing computers and IT training to government schools.
The project
We will identify six schools in both urban and rural environments to receive a package of IT hardware and training. Schools will be provided with 20 low-cost high-spec laptops, a printer, mobile dongles for internet connectivity and offline resources on external drives. Rural schools will be provided with solar panels where necessary. Teachers will receive IT training combining computer basics with practical lesson plans incorporating computer technology. Schools will be encouraged to set up IT clubs to enable children to develop their skills further and to organise community days where the wider community can use the resources. A Link Ethiopia trainer will visit the schools to monitor improvements in students skills and attainment and observe lessons.
What stage are we at?
In 2014, we had the handover ceremony for our solar panelled IT centre in Tokuma school. The school is based in a remote village outside of Ambo and none of the students or teachers had had the opportunity to use a computer before. We built a new concrete classroom for the school, installed four 130 watt solar panels and 20 laptops. The room was also equipped with a printer, photocopier and projector. We have seen big changes in the IT skills of teachers and students and have learnt lessons that we would incorporate into a larger pilot. We would like to continue to work with Tokuma school alongside five new schools in Amhara and Oromiya.
What can your money do?
- £20 Buys 2 memory drives with off-line resources
- £100 Pays for 1 days IT training for a school
- £200 Buys memory drives for a class of students
- £400 Buys one laptop for a school
- £800 Buys a years trainer time for six schools
Fund a programme
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Fund a school
Schools often struggle to provide basic resources such as chalk and books so, unfortunately, IT is often considered an unaffordable luxury. But we know that IT skills can significantly enhance students earning power when they leave school. £4,000 will pay for a school IT suite of 20 laptops, and transform the learning opportunities of a school.
Cost: £4000
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Tokuma School
We are delighted with our new solar energy IT centre at Tokumma Elementary School and want to continue to improve it. We want to provide more learning resources, and reference material to use on the new laptops. We also need to pay for ongoing internet access and maintenance support to maximise the impact of this great facility.
Cost: £2000
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Resources
We want to pilot a learning on tablets scheme. We will provide phonics learning from our literacy project on tablets for 15 teachers and tablets for an entire class. Tablets will be loaded with videos and course materials and include questions and answers for students homework. Tablets allow teachers to track pupil progress to fine tune their teaching approach.
Cost: £10000
Donate
If you would like to donate specifically to any of these projects then please click here and send an email to [email protected] to let us know that this is the project you want to support.