Huge areas of South Africa comprise rural bushland, interspersed with small rural towns and villages. It is difficult to provide such isolated communities with resources and up to date teaching material. Radio communication could be a solution to the problem, allowing immediate, simple and cheap information transmission to children regardless of their location. A potential problem of a radio education programme in remote areas is electricity supply. Radios need power to work, and the electricity supply is often unreliable or non existant.
Batteries are expensive in rural areas.
In this project, this potential problem has been overcome by the provision of Baygen Radios to the schools. Baygen's Freeplay radios were designed specifically for use in rural and remote locations. They work by clockwork, wound by hand, and require no additional power. Anyone with access to a Freeplay radio can therefore listen to radio programmes whenever they wish, for as long as they wish, without the need for additional expense to be incurred. This enables the supply of radios to additional schools and the provision of technical and broadcasting equipment, improving the education and long term prospects of tens of thousands of South African children.