BriteBox

57% of learners in South Africa are in rural areas. Most of these learners live in single parent households or they themselves are the parents to their siblings due to parents dying of HIV, Covid-19 or any other causes. Learners in under resourced schools do not have laptops/tablets and internet connectivity to access educational content. We have designed a Britebox rechargeable mobile tablet trolley that houses 40 tablets and an educational server loaded with Khan Academy,Wikipedia and Encyclopedia. Learners will only borrow the tablet from the library and access content which they could have paid for at an internet cafe. Learners will not have to walk long distances to get to where there is internet coverage as the content on the server does not require an internet connection. Learners in under resources areas will also be able to learn how to use other Microsoft Office packages thereby enhancing digital literacy.

Digital literacy and access to devices is a major problem with most learners in remote areas lacking the skills to use a computer device like a smartphone, laptop or tablet. This has caused willing learners to cross crocodile infested rivers  or being raped or kidnapped trying to go to areas where they can access these devices and the internet. Of the 57% of the affected learners, 32% are young girls between the ages of 10 to 18years of age. When they are given homework that needs them to research online, they have to walk long distances to access a computer and internet connectivity. They have to attend class the following morning and they have to come back and cook for their siblings. They end up not attempting to do the homework preferring to stay at home and look after their siblings. This means they are always left out and remain behind academically and end up dropping out of school completely. This leads to more antisocial activities in communities they live in because they cannot get descent jobs to look after themselves. 

Britebox is a rechargeable mobile tablet trolley that houses 40 tablets, a librarian laptop, a Raspberry Pi server loaded with Rachel educational content and a printer. This solution instantly transforms an ordinary classroom into a PC laboratory or a digital library. The solution simultaneously recharges all the 40 tablets through the night and learners can enjoy a full day of use. Each tablet has access to the free educational content on the Raspberry Pi so that they do not have to buy expensive data bundles to access the internet. The tablet simply connect to the Raspberry Pi via a Wi-Fi network. The tablet is connected to the printer wirelessly so that if a learner needs material for later use they can simply print and use at home and retain the tablet so that it can be used by other learners. Since its mobile, it can be pulled to a classroom for MS office tutorials and pushed back to the library where it is safe to recharge. If the school does not have electricity, we provide a solar system that will recharge the Britebox.

Our solution serves learners in remote rural areas where the schools do not electricity, computer laboratories and internet connectivity. Watch a video with subtitles here https://bit.ly/3pWTZWy . Our target population are boys and girls aged 10 to 24years of age. Currently the solutions being suggested still exclude them because government has been introducing radio and TV lessons but again these learners do not have TVs and radios or there is a poor reception that they cannot receive any signal. We embark on fact finding missions by interviewing school principals, teachers, learners, traditional local chiefs to understand the impact of lack of quality and inclusive education. We also ask for feedback and on areas of improvement of our solution particularly from the learners and teachers.

If we put a Britebox trolley in a school, learners will not have to walk long distances to research their homework. Learners will also learn other digital skills like using Microsoft Office Packages and they will not have to pay to surf the internet as they will have an offline content server loaded with free tutorials, textbooks and self study material.

The schools in rural areas do not have adequate infrastructure to set up a computer lab unlike in urban areas where there is access to electricity and internet connectivity. Our low cost mobile e-library/tablet trolley will help the learners in rural areas to have inclusive and equal education opportunities like their urban counterparts. The mobile trolley itself uses a battery that is recharged overnight so that it can be used at any location. If the school does not have electricity to recharge the trolley, we will install a solar system to recharge the trolley overnight.

We are testing in two schools in Durban South Africa in an area called Dendethu. This stage is accurate because we are just starting but the feedback we have received has been favorable. We have also signed up three corporate partners who would like to use our business model to their advantage which is a win win because they will buy our solution and donate to schools as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.

9 full time employees.