Millennium at one year old
Great minds in thought unite
They let a clever plan unfold
A game plan for the fight

Amidst the many dreadful things
A flash of lightning bright
Why can the good that I T brings
Not set these matters right

This thought – born in the Western Cape –
A way to liberate
How a disaster to escape
The kids to educate

I T – used widely – in med’cine
Is indispensable
The fight against disease to win
New cures are possible

Most engineers use I T well
To help them calculate
Helps dress designers to excel
When fashions they create

Consider the commercial fields
There fully they depend
On I T which its power wields
O’er every cent they spend

Computers do near anything
Most tasks they can perform
If one I T to schools could bring
It teaching would reform

In education – why resist –
While more tutors are sought
Include into the options list –
By P Cs kids are taught

This question – a most crucial one –
The crisis now is deep
Can I T get the teaching done
Help learners in schools’ keep

The Khanya project comes to light
A pun – intended not –
To set this situation right
Helps get rid of the rot

The project’s goals and aims are clear
It’s not to teach I T
To this rule strictly must adhere
For best results to see

Curriculum delivery
This is the prime concern
In this regard – no fubbery –
To basics must return

The classroom scene can be reformed
New ways of learning shown
When kids by I T are informed
Fresh breath in teaching blown

When teachers are not there to teach
Maths Science History
Computers can be used to reach
A classroom victory

Until perfection they can drill
To practise num’racy
And they most certainly can fill
The gap in lit’racy

Use I T in a novel way
– A teacher substitute –
Add it to a teaching bouquet
Help learners destitute

But I T can do more than this
Fill up a huge blank space
Provide what many poor ones miss
A bonus in this case

One must acknowledge that there is
A gulf both deep and wide
Some have – some don’t – the expertise
A digital divide

This modern world – can one survive –
Is competition fair
No one can in the work place thrive
Without computer flair

Poor learners – often left behind –
I T they cannot touch
It could expand their world – and mind –
Acts as a learning crutch

Therefore a secondary aim
Of P Cs in the schools –
To give to all the kids the same
Access to I T tools

Through Khanya – an attempt to solve –
Both teaching and divide
And in the process does resolve
The lack on either side

Cut through all of the State’s red tape
New life in teaching blow
Throughout the whole of Western Cape
I T to schools must go

At all times take the utmost care
Good balance one must gain
I T obsessed – can be a snare –
Perspective do maintain

If I T is the little tail
And teaching is the dog
When tail wags dog – then both will fail –
Get stuck right in the bog

I T must not dictate the way
Its role is to support
Teaching must have the final say
Don’t sell this mission short

So when computers one does use
In filling up the gap
Great focus on them must refuse
Be careful of this trap

The estimated cost is steep
Most schools this can’t afford
Their poverty – so very deep –
No money in their hoard

Of course there’s always the debate
Of whether this is right
For poor ones should one not create
A house to solve their plight

Should one not rather feed the boy
Than teach him internet
If lack of food his health destroy
Would there not be regret

And what about the dying one
Whom med’cine can’t afford
Should his life rather not be won
Than buy a motherboard

Resources in most schools are low
Books often there are not
One hears many a tale of woe
Of what they have not got

How could one therefore justify
To spend funds on I T
Is this the way to rectify
The abject poverty

If fish is given to a man
His hunger will be stilled
But teaching him to fish and plan
For life – his stomach filled

Providing for their current needs
May help poor ones today
But while one does these little deeds
Help them make their own way

It’s not a case of either or
One does not have a choice
None of these needs one can ignore
Give heed to reason’s voice

While caring for needs physical
In parallel one must
Address needs educational
As a great moral thrust

A system must be put in place
Where one can use I T
To supplement the teacher’s face
When she’s an absentee

In cases where the teacher’s there
But poorly qualified
The deal to learners is not fair
It must be rectified

All kids must get a sporting chance
Expose them to I T
This will indeed their skills enhance
Achieve equality

To make a living – each one’s wish –
Poor people must be trained
This will help them one day to fish
Their lives thus be sustained

The global scene has changed a lot
P Cs the world invade
In schools one certainly should not
Their influence evade

All learners now must join this race
Don’t leave a child behind
Technology moves at a pace
Some this a challenge find

Thus Khanya is endorsed and sealed
A budget is approved
Success progressively revealed
As forward it is moved

This project – formed by Cabinet –
No one can it replace
In legislation firmly set
Backed by a business case

The facts presented clearly show
Why Khanya was conceived
But now one further needs to know
How its aims are achieved