COL’s Aptus training facilitated together with PACFOLD

Tropical Cyclone Gita, a category 4 cyclone, struck Tonga on 12 February 2018 and caused extensive damage to essential infrastructure such as power grid and school buildings.

Following a meeting between COL President and CEO, Professor Asha Kanwar and Tonga’s Minister of Education and Training, Honourable Penisimani Fifita, during the 20th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Fiji, COL arranged to send Aptus devices to assist the Ministry in restoring classroom teaching in Tongan schools and colleges.

On April 10, COL deployed 25 Aptus devices and 250 high-quality tablet computers which was formally handed by COL’s Knowledge Services Manager, Mr Ricky Cheng, to Tonga’s Minister of Education and Training. The Ministry appointed the Tonga Institute of Higher Education (TIHE) as the lead agency to deploy Aptus in various schools. The Deputy CEO of TIHE and COL Focal Point in Tonga, Ms Siatukimoana Vaea, appreciated COL’s efforts and explained how Aptus would contribute to enhancing classroom teaching in Tonga.

A two-day workshop on Aptus technology training was facilitated by Mr. Cheng and Mr Matai Tagicaki from COL’s regional center, PACFOLD. Key personnel from the TIHE and the Tonga Institute of Education (TIOE) participated and in the end, were able to create their own learning materials and transfer to Aptus via WordPress, ownCloud and/or Moodle.