COSTAZ Conference

Yesterday the Computer Science Teachers Association Zambia (COSTAZ) held a conference at ST Vincent de Paul School in Monze. One of the items on the agenda was the setting up of Code Clubs in Schools.

Over the last couple of years, Howard has been training a small group of teachers to run code clubs to teach programming and physical computing. Macloud from Kabuyu andIT technician Bridget, were invited to address the delegates about this. There was a great deal of interest and we hope that more code clubs will be rolled out soon. Thanks to Francis from St Vincent’s for arranging this.

Feedback from solar schools

We have been gathering feedback from the solar schools that we assisted in Zambia over the last 8 years. We installed solar panels and supplied RACHEL learning esources via Raspberry Pi. Here are  a few quotes:
“Solar power is cardinal to most of the rural schools in Siavonga District. Most of the schools are not connected to the hydro electric power thereby lacking any means of running technological appliances.
Pupils have a chance to do hands on activities.
Only seven pupils failed computer out of thirty four pupils in the grade 9 2022 final examination.
Generally speaking,there is need for most schools in rural areas to have solar to move at the same pace with urban children.
Your donation came at the right time.”

“The provision of solar power at Sianyoolo Primary School has enabled the use of Raspberry Pi which has allowed anytime free education access by the poor rural school communities.”

“I write to inform you our sponsors that the solar power has helped the school in terms security lights, charging of computers and phones for teachers. The solar power has also improved the learning of information and communication technology (ICT) in the school as computers are always charged before lessons begin. The RACHEL has improved reading levels and abilities for the learners. This is due to reading resources contained in the RACHEL resource.”

“Having the solar panels, adult literacy learning programs has been introduced in the evenings.Pupils have also benefited since they can now do their evening study.
Teachers have directed benefited by lessening burden on lesson preparations. The lessons are now more effective by the use of RACHEL Pi and RASPBERRY PI.
The school has actually been earmarked for upgrade to junior/secondary, since it has now power.”

We have achieved these results with the help of grants from sponsors such as Hub Cymru Africa, Wales and Africa Grant Scheme, The Waterloo Foundation, The Didymus Foundation,  The Carmela and Ronnie Pignatelli Foundation, 

Talk for Henllys WI

Thanks to Henllys WI for inviting me to talk at their meeting on Monday. It was good to see so many ladies interested and enthused to hear about our project in Zambia.

Thanks for the “appearance fee”. It will provide physical computing kit for a Siavonga code club.

Ethical Festive Market

This weekend @hubcymruafrica are hosting their Ethical Festive Market! We are lucky enough to have our trustee Wendy speaking at the event so please come along to support her at 1pm in the Temple of Peace Cardiff.

There are more activities throughout the day with the event running from 11am to 4pm.

#development #international #education #ethical #festive #market #youth #engagement #sdg #discussion

NAQEZ Southern Province conference

Giakonda Solar Schools were delighted to be invited to address the conference of National Action for Quality Education Zambia (NAQEZ) in Choma, Southern Province.  They were interested to hear about how we have worked with Zambian schools to improve access to educational resources and computers.

Teachers Daniel Mangwende and Francis Kanene demonstrated some of the ways they use Raspberry Pi in their schools : for accessing the learning resources of RACHEL (Remote Area Community Hub for Education and Learning); as a powerful PC using one tenth the power of a standard desktop; and as a great way of introducing pupils to the useful skills of coding.

Following my short presntation we were invited to join the Southern Province Educational Officer, Dr Allan Kaoma, to discuss further how we can extend the range of schools we support throughout Southern Province.

Zambian Education magazine

We are proud to have an article included in the first edition of the Zambian Education Magazine, published by NAQEZ (National Action for Quality Education in Zambia). Howard talks about the issues of choosing appropriate IT equipment for use in a rural African setting.

Click the link to read

ZAMBIAN EDUCATION MAG 1st Ed

Impact of solar power

Daniel Mangwende of Dibbwi School today sent a letter describing the impact that solar power has made on his school. We are glad to receive his endorsement and thank him for his kind words.

If anyone doubts how effective £5000 can be to rural Zambia, read below.

Letter of support

Meeting partners

On our travels homeward we met with some of our partners. Aaron Chanza is CEO of NAQEZ, an organisation which promotes quality education in Zambia and advises and makes recommendations to the Ministry of General Education.

We also met our partners from The Future is Female Zambia  who are working with us on the Learning to Learn project, funded thanks to a grant from the Welsh Government’s Wales and Africa Grant Scheme.