Learners from more than 20 disadvantaged schools from around the Vhembe District stand to benefit from a donation of more than 140 computers that were donated to them by the Tswane University of Technology.

The computers are part of a consignment that the Tswane University donates to disadvantaged schools from all over the country. The executive mayor of the Vhembe District, Cllr Falaza Mdaka, and Tswane University of Technology’s Dr Stanley Mukhola recently handed the computers to ecstatic principals of the different schools at the University of Venda Hall.

At the same function, an ICT Strategy for the four local and district municipalities was officially handed to the executive mayor.

Mukhola said he was touched to see students from the rural villages having to spend most of their precious study time trying to catch up on the technology that is used on campus. He said their university has a motto "We empower people," and they are determined to empower the people of South Africa, more especially in the field of technology.

He said many rural families could not afford to buy their children technological gadgets that are the in thing today, but through donations from the private sector, many learners are today able to access the much-needed technology. He said it was not the first time that his university had donated things to communities in Limpopo. “We have already built a well-equipped community library at Mashamba and have also given them a hundred computers to service the communities of Hlanganani and Tshitale and have also given some computers in Bothlokwa.”

Cllr Mdaka urged all educators and learners to make optimum use of the computers. He said that some of the findings of the ICT Strategy showed that computer literacy in the district was lower than low. Mdaka said the time was now that the municipality needed to start responding to the challenges facing the education of mostly disadvantaged rural learners. He said technology today is dominating and making learning easier, compared to the past. “We must regard this as a serious challenge and the computers we are giving today should play a critical supportive role in the advancement of the National Curriculum Statement in order to realize the outcomes-based education,” he said.