SMART supports
Africa’s NEPAD e-Schools Initiative Donation of 120 SMART Board interactive whiteboards facilitates
21st-century learning across Africa CALGARY, ALBERTA --- December 11, 2006 --- SMART Technologies
Inc. announces its support of the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD) e-Schools Initiative through the donation
of up to 120 SMART Board(TM) interactive whiteboards. The
SMART Board interactive whiteboard will play a key role
in African classrooms by providing an interactive learning
environment for students and teachers, and facilitating
distance collaboration across the continent. The project
is led by the NEPAD e-Africa Commission, participating
country governments and schools, and the ISPAD-led Consortia
made up of a number of private companies, including SAP,
ORACLE, Corporation SA, AMD, Intelsat, HP, Microsoft, Sentech,
MTN Foundation, Grintek Telecom and Cisco Systems Africa.
Its goal is to transform all African secondary schools
within five years and all primary schools within ten years
of the project’s inception to NEPAD e-Schools. The first phase of the initiative aims to transform six
schools in 20 African countries into NEPAD e-Schools. The
countries include Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya,
Lesotho, Mali,Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal,
South Africa and Uganda. The initiative will lay the foundation
for creating an end-to-end education solution using Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) to connect 600,000 schools
across Africa to the NEPAD e-School Satellite network and
the Internet. “By working with NEPAD in support of the e-Schools
Initiative, we are creating a partnership to provide tools
and technology that bridge the digital divide and open
up economic opportunities,” explains Richard Kiplagat,
Microsoft’s Global Strategic Accounts Manager in
West, East and Central Africa. “The broader availability
of technology in education is a means to opening doors
to economic and social prosperity. This access has been
identified as a prerequisite for achieving the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals. As such, it needs to be a
shared public/private effort. As a proud partner in the
NEPAD e-Schools Initiative, we hope to bring our resources,
solutions, know-how and personal dedication to bear on
helping government and partners serve local needs and address
local challenges.” "This initiative is committed to helping African
school children develop the skills needed to engage successfully
in the world’s knowledge economy," saysNancy
Knowlton, SMART's president and co-CEO. "The introduction
of SMART Board interactive whiteboards will give students
and teachers across the continent connection to experts,
even in remote or impoverished areas, and access to 21st-century
collaborative learning materials.”
About NEPAD
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)
is a vision and strategic framework for Africa’s
renewal. The NEPAD strategic framework document was developed
from a mandate given to the five initiating Heads of State – Algeria,
Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa – by the
African Union (AU) to develop an integrated socio-economic
development framework that addresses the challenges facing
Africa. Its pledge is to eradicate poverty and to put African
countries on a path of sustainable growth and development.
More information about NEPAD is available at www.nepad.org.
About NEPAD e-Schools
The first workshop of the NEPAD e-Schools Coordinating
Body agreed on the following four objectives for NEPAD
e-Schools:
To provide ICT skills and knowledge to primary and secondary school students
that will enable them to function in the emerging Information Society and Knowledge
Economy
To make every learner health literate
To provide teachers with ICT skills to enable them to use ICT as tools to enhance
teaching and learning
To provide school managers with ICT skills to facilitate efficient management
and administration in the schools. For more information see www.eafricacommission.org. About SMART
SMART Technologies Inc. is both the industry pioneer and
global education market segment leader in easy-to-use
interactive whiteboards and other group collaboration
tools. The award-winning SMART Board interactive whiteboard
is the most widely installed interactive whiteboard in
the world. Many school jurisdictions have standardized
on the product, which is used to provide interactive
learning opportunities and enhance student achievement
in more than 330,000 classrooms spanning every U.S. state,
every Canadian province, every Local Education Authority
in the UK and in more than 100 countries worldwide. SMART
products also include interactive pen displays, interactive
digital signage, wireless slates and software. Using
SMART products, teachers can access and share the information
they need to improve student learning outcomes and streamline
lesson planning. SMART’s education customers include
New York City Board of Education (U.S.), Oxford University
(UK), Kobe City Board of Education (Japan), Barnier
Public School (Australia), University of Ottawa (Canada), United
World College (Singapore), Stephen-Hawking-Schule Neckargemuend
(Germany), Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind
(U.S.) and Harvard University (U.S.). SMART is a private company founded in 1987. Employing
more than 800 people, SMART is headquartered in Calgary,Alberta,
Canada, with assembly facilities in Ottawa, and offices
in Bonn, Tokyo, Shanghai, New York City, Chicago andWashington
DC. SMART has been issued and maintains a broad portfolio
of patents with numerous U.S., Canadian and other patents
pending. In 1992, SMART formed a strategic alliance with
Intel(R) Corporation that resulted in joint product development
and marketing efforts, and Intel’s equity ownership
in the company. SMART products are sold through dealers
across North America and distributors worldwide. To learn
more about SMART as a company as well as SMART products
and programs visit www.smarttech.com and www.education.smarttech.com.
Retrieved Monday 28th July 2008 from http://www.smartboard.nl/pages/media_release/nepad.php
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