Allardyce PDD Internet - photos
David Leeming
Hi all,
Some photos from the recent installation of solar-powered satellite Internet with campus-wide Wi-Fi (EU-RAMO project of Isabel Education).
You can see there are challenges with such remote schools, for instance the condition of buildings, but I think we have done a good job of it.
On my part, it was wonderful to do this work in the school where I enjoyed my first two years in the Solomons as a volunteer teacher (1996-7). It was great to meet three of my old students, two of whom now teach at the school, and one who is the school nurse.
When i arrived last week the communications at Allardyce were still the same as they were in 1997 (unchanged since the 1970s??) ) – only an HF radio. Mobile coverage is unlikely to reach Allardyce in the short to medium term due to it’s isolation and the sparse population along that coast. It is also remarkable to think that students have been going through their entire school lives without any exposure to the Internet and how disadvantaged they have been for their employment and higher education. We hope that this initiative by Isabel Education will have very significant impacts.
We also did training and set up a school website, as with SDT College, and provided educational resources for offline use (UNESCO, etc), and I will be mentoring the teachers on a continuing basis.
For instance, we have set up a Solomon Islands Teachers forum on the WSIS Community site (facilitated by our friend Abel Caine at UNESCO CI, Paris). I am yet to join the teachers to this but it can become a collaboration portal for Solomon Islands teachers generally. We will pilot it with the Isabel schools and Eucalyptus (i.e. the schools with which I have been engaged).
http://www.wsis-community.org/pg/groups/707141/solomon-islands-teachers-forum/
and collection of educational resources from the DLCP
http://rurallink.com.sb/SchoolNet/
Report to follow.
David Leeming
Solomon Islands Rural Link
P.O.Box 652 Honiara, Solomon Islands
+677 7476396 (m) +677 24419 (h)