As part of its teacher capacity development strategy on the African continent SchoolNet Africa has developed the Teacher Exchange Programme as sub-Programme of the African Teachers Network (ATN).

Teachers travel from their schools and country to another country under the Teacher Exchange Programme where they observe at first-hand provision of ICT access and e-learning programmes in other countries.

The teachers are encouraged to undertake the following:

• Learn about how ICTs are being applied in schools in other parts of Africa

• Visit SchoolNet offices and engage in interactions with practitioners

• Exchange ideas based on their own experiences

• Interact with teachers, learners and school principals

• Engage in discussions in support of SNA’s Thinkquest (TQA) and the African Teachers Network programmes.

As a pilot the programme is currently limited to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Countries. Sr. Annie Kapenda, Head Mistress of St. Mary’s Secondary School in Zomba, Malawi who champions e-learning in her school visited a number of Schools in South Africa as part of the teachers exchange programme in November 2020.

 Sr. Annie Kapenda

Sr. Kapenda indicates that she was not only overwhelmed by the South African ICT in education programme run by SchoolNet South Africa (SNSA) but impressed with the sophistication of the technical as well as educational programmes. She pays tribute to Mr. Philemon Kotsokoane who manages the World Links Programme for taking her around the schools and providing her with insight into ICTs in Education in South Africa.

Sr. Kapenda concedes that ICTs in education in Malawi was still in its embryonic stages and the visit was indeed very useful. She has undertaken to use the lessons learnt in South Africa and the SchoolNet Africa office to first get her school firmly established as an e-learning destination setting it as an example for other schools in her country Malawi. She is also keen on working with the national schoolnet organization to leverage Malawian students’ participation in the global learning network. Sr. Kapenda can be contacted at: [email protected] .

Mr. John Mwanakatwe a teacher at the Mpelembe Secondary School in Kitwe Zambia also traveled to Swaziland as part of SchoolNet Africa’s teacher exchange programme in December 2020.

John observes that unlike other school net- working organizations in Africa Computer Education Trust (CET) -SchoolNet Swaziland was a novelty. It was initiated and been run by a private business community. Led by its chairman Mr. Nathan Kirsch, the business community sees ICTs as critical to the overall development of Swaziland presently and in the future. CET works in close collaboration with the Swazi Ministry of Education under the Directorship of Mrs. Sibongile Kunene. They have to date provided computers to almost 50% of Swaziland’s schools.

Mrs. Kunene is seen in the middle picture addressing a school on the relevance of ICTs in education and flanked by John Mwanakatwe to the right in the first picture.

The Director of CET is also seen in the third picture briefing Mr. John Mwanakatwe on the most pressing challenge facing e-learning in Swaziland - connectivity.

John indicates that he had learnt a lot from his visit to Swaziland and hopes to share his knowledge with colleagues in Zambia to accelerate ICT provision to schools.

 John Mwanakatwe can be contacted at: [email protected] or [email protected] 

Mrs. Sibongile Kunene (Director of CET) can be contacted at: [email protected]

The programme is in progress. A teacher from Swaziland also completed his visit to South Africa and Mozambican teachers are soon to visit South Africa.

For further information on the teacher exchange programme contact Dr. Hillar Addo Project office SchoolNet Africa @ [email protected]