ICASIT: HELPING SOUTH AFRICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Students of Vukuzakhe High School in Durban, South Africa

SPP’s International Center for Applied Studies in Information Technology (ICASIT), directed by Professor Stephen Ruth, recently awarded a grant to Vukuzakhe High School, located 30 minutes from downtown Durban, South Africa, that enabled the school to upgrade its computer room. Teacher Sam Dyson of Chicago’s Walter Payton College Prep—Vukuzakhe’s sister school—applied for the grant after visiting Vukuzakhe for a week during the summer of 2005. Students from the American school had begun corresponding with pen pals from Vukuzakhe the previous spring, and Dyson made his visit to plan for student exchange trips that will take place during the spring of 2006.

The new computer lab at the Vukuzakhe High School in Durban, South Africa

“Thanks to the ICASIT grant, email communication between pen pals is going to be much easier,” Dyson says. “And both students and teachers in Vukuzakhe will be able to access the Internet more easily.”

When asked to explain why he thinks ICASIT agreed to fund his proposal, Dyson had this to say: “I think Steve likes to fund projects like these, in which the impact is so immediate and powerful. Vukuzakhe now has between 20 and 25 computers that are being used by more than 1000 students.”

ICASIT’s projects and applied research aim at evaluating the application and use of information technology. The center has projects in more than twenty countries, and enjoys partnerships with foundations, research centers, and universities around the world.

To learn more about ICASIT, visit the organization’s web page: click here.