Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has launched the construction of 75 Information Communication Technologies (ICT) laboratory centres in Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS) across the country.
This initiative, part of the Universal Service Fund and Connect a School Project, seeks to promote schools as community ICT centres, targeting over 40,000 students and 250,000 community residents.
Speaking during the launch at Nkope CDSS in Mangochi on Tuesday, Head of the Universal Service Fund at MACRA, Ronald Tembo, said that Connect a School is a flagship project that is in line with the national digitalisation policy.
‘‘In this project, we have taken a different model, we are working with the community, particularly the artisans who are trained by TEVETA,’’ he said.
Tembo said MACRA is will soon introduce Yathu Yathu data, which aims to cover all the rural areas with affordable and reliable internet.
Tembo added that apart from construction of ICT laboratories in schools, MACRA intends to construct a total of 9,000 ICT laboratories in most public institutions, a project which will cost the institution over K 7 billion.
Director of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Ministry of Education, Professor Chomora Mikeka, said the project will help to build human capital, which will in turn help transform the economy of the country.
‘‘This is a very critical project, as Malawians have demanded that we put each and every school an ICT lab in order to facilitate education digitalization, but also digital transformation in the country,” he said.
Mikeka said that currently, out of 6,954 Primary schools in the country, 140 schools are connected to the Internet.
Sub-Traditional Authority Chiwalo of Mangochi commended the government for considering Nkope CDSS as one of the learning institutions to benefit from the project.
By Bishop Witmos, MANA
