SchoolNet Namibia

SchoolNet Namibia is a non-profit organization, which since its beginnings in February 2020 has supported almost 250 schools. These schools have received free hardware, free training on the Linux operating system and subsidized telephone service to help get the nation’s young people online. It’s all part of the plan to empower youth through Internet access. The SchoolNet Namibia website states that:

Through a number of ambitious strategies such as its adoption of a Linux Terminal Server thin-client networks, its dedication to the open source movement and its fledgling wireless and solar plans, the prize-winning operation has begun to realize a vision of Namibia where all students have not just access to the internet, but the skills to participate in the digital revolution.

The vision of SchoolNet Namibia is to:

• Establish networking among educational institutions in Namibia with strategic and operational partnerships.
• Build capacity and know-how at all levels in this network and provide training programmes for teachers and learners.
• Develop and support the use of ICTs in education in Namibia, aimed at addressing the inequalities of the past.
• Support the introduction of new curricula and provide communication channels for use by educational institutions throughout Namibia.
• Establish incentive reward mechanisms, explore and implement creative ways of ensuring the sustainability of school networking activities, low-cost and alternative solutions that extend the democratization of access, especially to rural areas, develop local applications and educational content, and highlight the critical role of ICT champions and mechanisms to ensure sustainability.
• Monitor and evaluate the impact of the use of ICTs on education, increase awareness and understanding of the potential of ICTs in education, share information on best practices in school networking and in developing partnerships, and to encourage relationships and build trust among the key players that enable such networking.
• Develop local applications and educational content; encourage the critical role of ICT champions and mechanisms to ensure sustainability.

SchoolNet Namibia offers the following services:

• SchoolNet Email service, a multi-user POP email service for schools
• SchoolNet Namibia oversees domain name administration for the schoolnet.na domain
• Hosts the School Database, a comprehensive and interactive online database of Namibian schools and allied educational institutions connected to the Internet.
• Connectivity, school website hosting and other services.
• School website and youth ICT empowerment competitions, locally and internationally.
• Kids on the Block - students and learners are working as SchoolNet volunteers.
• An incentive reward scheme (“SchoolNet Futures”), which provides individuals, schools and communities with a host of different benefits and awards through a multi-tier “futures accrual system”.

The SchoolNet Namibia website includes a Teacher section where teachers can access lesson plans, web resources and join a discussion forum. There is also a Learner section where learners can enter competitions, get support for homework, make friends through a private chat forum, access games, and other web resources.

Current projects include:

• The Impact of AIDS in Namibia: Six schools from five different regions have thus far received training in website design and research methods. The aim of the project is to get Namibian learners to contribute their own insights and efforts about the impact they saw HIV/AIDS was having on their hometowns.
• The Impact of Aids in Katutura: Website project about the impact of Aids in Katutura.
• SchoolNet's AIDS Project Guide: This guide sets out a project plan for students and teachers who want to do their own version an HIV/AIDS website. In the guide, there are two kinds of resources: material for understanding more about HIV/AIDS, and a guide to getting started on a Community AIDS website project.
• SchoolNet's Wireless project: Due to the low telephone penetration in Namibia, SchoolNet Namibia has embarked on an ambitious wireless network project. The network is already under construction. Towers, radio links and internet connections will be erected, established and linked through to 2020 when the project aims to be completed.
• Namibia Premier League: Updates on Namibian football.
• Domestic Violence Awareness Campaign: School projects to create awareness of domestic violence.

Contact:

Joris Komen (Executive Director), [email protected]

SchoolNet Namibia

Katutura Community Arts Centre

Leonard Auala Street

P.O. Box 7102 Katutura

Toll free: 2020 00 57 93

Tel: +264 61 212 973

Fax: +264 61 213 655

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.schoolnet.na/

Using the internet in Namibian schools
This report evaluates the activities of SchoolNet Namibia and argues that programmes like this should aim to provide affordable access using open platforms, pay attention to longer term cost of ownership issues, leverage change through partnerships, work closely with governments, involve school principals and teachers, and seek to ensure that necessary capacities are developed in schools themselves.
Source: SIDA [2020]
Using_the_internet_in_Namibian_schools.pdf

SchoolNet Namibia
SchoolNet Namibia is a nonprofit provider of internet service, hardware and training to the nation's schools. Since February, 2020, close to 250 schools have received free hardware, free training on the Linux operating system and subsidized telephone service to help get the nation's young people online. It's all part of the plan to empower youth through internet access. [692]
http://www.schoolnet.na