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held in the UK and in 2011 she was invited to Norway and Sweden where she was inspiring other teachers on how to integrate technology in class. “It’s been really exciting,” says Moliehi of the last four years. “It has changed everybody’s world – me and my children’s world.”
PROGRESS REPORT Thanks to a donation from Dell Wyse by way of Microsoft’s Early Adopters Programs, Mamoekesti Government Primary School was recently updated with desktop virtualisation solutions and the school is using the technology to continue educational development with ICT. This is particularly useful for teaching as many children as she does. “I find this solution even more interesting than anything I’ve used before,” she says. Using thin client technology, she is able to control what the children in her classroom are looking at from one central computer. It also means the children can take turns using a few desktops, but with their own login. She comments: “With this solution, I can be able to control every machine to see what is happening in every machine. It has made me to be able to be the master of my classroom.” The school in Norway that Moliehi went to visit also
donated technology – in the shape of laptops and mobile phones – to facilitate a virtual classroom and blogging project between the two schools. Classes from both countries have collaborated on projects about climate change and also shared facts about living in their respective countries. This, says Moliehi, has not only helped her pupils with their knowledge of their own country, but English too, because although they speak English in the classroom, Sesotho is what many of them would speak at home. In general, Moliehi has found technology to inspire her children in a way nothing ever did before. “When I
introduced it to them, it was the first time I’ve seen [the] children being keen to learn more,” she remembers. “If children are willing to learn, it means it reduces the load on the teacher because they can go that extra mile. That’s why when I see them being excited, I think: ‘This is the way to go’.” This is important in a country with high drop- out rates among children and many of Moliehi’s students are orphans. She says technology is to thank for reducing the school’s rate of absenteeism. “Some children are staying with their siblings or staying alone, so there’s nobody in the morning to say ‘go to school’,” she explains, “but with the technology, everybody is looking forward for the next day because this is the place where they get entertained, this is the place where they learn and this is the place where their life is changing.” I run into Moliehi one more time – getting onto the
“With the technology, everybody is looking forward to the next day because this is the place where they get entertained, this is the place where they learn and this is the place where their life is changing”
DLR after one of the Bett Show’s many long days. She’s tired but requited – in absolute awe, yet again (for she’s been to Bett before) of just how much UK schools have access to. Despite this, many schools feel undersupplied.
Does she have anything to say to British schools that think they don’t have enough? “Use what you have on hand,” she recommends. “What I did is I used my stumbling blocks as the stepping stones.”
How you can help
Sekese Moliehi and the Mamoeketsi Government Primary School may have come far – but there is still much that they need. She is always keen to work with schools in the UK, and accepts any kind of technology donation you can spare. For more information on how you can help, please contact Moliehi herself on
moliehisekese@gmail.com.
www.edexec.co.uk / april 2013
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