Long-delayed update [2024-05-11]

It’s been a busy time here at Reneal Headquarters.  In my last blog post, we were just starting installations for 2023 Phase 2.  I’m happy to report that all ten of those new computer labs are up and running.  We are on the brink of shipping the equipment for 2024 Phase 1, which will add 12 more schools to the Reneal family.  A huge THANK YOU goes to Apto Solutions for making this work possible!

It’s been a good year for partnerships so far.  Reneal’s second joint lab with Terrawatu (www.terrawatu.org) was installed at Mkonoo Secondary School as part of the 2023 projects.  We also deployed Teacher-in-a-Box (www.teacherinabox.org.au) educational hot spot systems at 20 schools in different areas in Tanzania.  We have been working with the TIB Team to migrate educational content from Moodle to Kolibri, which should make content management and updating easier.  Reneal’s future development work will also include migration to Kolibri, and we’ve been able to learn a lot through our work with TIB and the NGO Learning Equality (www.learningequality.org). 

Reneal is thrilled to have the support of Apto Solutions (www.aptosolutions.com) again in 2024.  There are 35 boxes of equipment packed and ready to go!  Reneal is also planning 2024 Phase 2, to add computer labs to another 10 schools and deploy 20 more TIB educational material hot spots.  We couldn’t do it without the support of Apto Solutions!

We ended up delaying deployment of the student web development system.  It still needed more testing, and the school visits were looming.  The school visits are a huge part of Reneal’s sustainability efforts, and we had other updates that needed to be rolled out.  The other major on-going software work is a major OS and software update based on a newer version of Ubuntu.  This is slated for release in 2025.  Neal is making good progress, but there’s a lot to do yet.

The most exciting piece of recent news is that Reneal Country Director David Nyangaka has been promoted to work in the Ministry of Information, Communication, and Information Technology office in Dodoma.  Congratulations David!  We hope this gives Reneal additional opportunities to serve students and teachers in Tanzania.

 [Photos: turnover of the new labs in Chalinze District, installation at Mkonoo Secondary School]