Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni officially launched the first NEPAD e-School on the African continent on July 18 2005. The Bugulumbya Secondary School at Busobya Village in a rural area, is one of many schools across the continent to benefit in a pilot programme.

It now has computers and accessories, a server, Internet, electricity, mobile telephone booster mast, computer desks, DSTV, TV screen and decoder, ehealth facility, and trained children and teachers in ICT.

'This technology will enable the young people of this village to tap into the global mainstream information and knowledge'

Hewlett Packard (HP) first announced launch plans for the Bugulumbya e-School at the World Economic Forum Africa Summit in Cape Town, followed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between HP, NEPAD e-Africa Commission and the Government of Uganda on July l 2005. Since then, Bugulumbya Secondary School, situated in deep rural Uganda, has undergone radical transformation.

Partners to the HP e-Schools consortium are Mindset, EduTouch, Edupac, Mergent Technologies, Multichoice, Eskom, ZSE, Canonical, Intel, Computech, Venture Communication and Transtel, supported by HP channel partners.

The HP consortium and a number of other private companies have committed to sponsoring the demonstration project, consisting of six schools in each of the 16 participating countries, for a period of 12 to 18 months, Participating countries are: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.

To learn more about Nepad, visit www.nepad.org and about Nepad e-Africa commission, visit their website.

Information extracted from:
The Star - Business Report • Friday 29th July 2005
Sowetan • Friday 29th July 2005