www.infoDev.org
Information for Development Program
www.infoDev.org
A DRAFT infoDEV PUBLICATION PREPARED BY:
Glen FarrellThe Commonwealth of Learning
Shafika IsaacsMindset Network
ICT AND EDUCATION SERIES
SERIES EDITOR:Michael Trucano
SURVEY OF ICT AND EDUCATION IN AFRICA
SURVEY O
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+ MAINSTREAMING ICT and Education Series
SURVEY OF ICT AND EDUCATION IN AFRICAA Summary Report, Based on 53 Country Surveys
This project seeks to gather together in a single resource the most relevant and useful information on ICT in education activities in Africa.
Key questions: HowareICTscurrentlybeingusedintheeducationsectorinAfrica,andwhatarethe
strategies and policies related to this use? WhatarethecommonchallengesandconstraintsfacedbyAfricancountriesinthisarea? Whatisactuallyhappeningontheground,andtowhatextentaredonorsinvolved?
Contents: ICTPoliciesforEducationinAfrica ICTActivitiesandInitiativesinHigherEducationinAfrica ICTActivitiesandInitiativesinPrimaryandSecondarySchools ICTActivitiesandInitiativesinNon-formalEducationinAfrica GenderEquityandICTinEducationinAfrica FactorsEnablingandConstrainingICTUseinEducationinAfrica ICTinEducationinAfrica:AWayForward
+ Regional ICT/Education Initiatives in Africa
ThisSummaryReportiscomplementedby53separateCountryReports.
About infoDevinfoDevisapartnershipofinternationaldevelopmentagencies,coordinatedandservedbyanexpertSecretariathousedintheGlobalICTDepartment(GICT)oftheWorldBank,oneofitskeydonorsandfounders.Itactsasaneutralconvenerofdialogue,andasacoordinatorofjointactionamongbilateralandmultilateraldonorssupportingglobalsharingofinformationonICTfordevelopment(ICT4D),andhelpingtoreduceduplicationofeffortsandinvestments.Tothisend,infoDevsponsorscutting-edgeresearchandanalysistohelpidentifyglobalbestpracticeintheuseofICT4D.
A Summary Report Based on 53 Country Surveys
Algeria Angola Benin BotswanaBurkina Faso Burundi CameroonCape Verde Central African RepublicChad Comoros Congo Cte dIvoireDjibouti Democratic Republic of the CongoEgypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea EthiopiaGabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius MoroccoMozambique Namibia Niger NigeriaRwanda Sao Tome and Principe SenegalSeychelles Sierra Leone SomaliaSouth Africa Sudan SwazilandTanzania Togo Tunisia UgandaZambia Zimbabwe
SURVEY OF ICT AND EDUCATION IN AFRICA
www.infoDev.org
A DRAFT infoDEV PUBLICATION PREPARED BY:
Glen Farrell
The Commonwealth of Learning
Shafika IsaacsMindset Network
ICT AND EDUCATION SERIES
SERIES EDITOR:Michael Trucano
Information for Development Program
A Summary Report Based on 53 Country Surveys
Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Congo Cte dIvoire Djibouti Democratic Republic of the Congo Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda Sao Tome and Principe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Tocitethispublication:Farrell, Glen and Shafika Isaacs. 2007. Survey of ICT and Education in Africa: A Summary Report, Based on 53 Country Surveys. Washington, DC: infoDev / World Bank. Available at http://www.infodev.org/en/Publication.353.html
2007The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank1818 H Street, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20433U.S.A.All rights reserved
The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are entirely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of infoDev, the Donors of infoDev, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank and its affiliated organizations, the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank cannot guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply on the part of the World Bank any judgment of the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.
www.infodev.org Table of Contents iii
Preface v
ReportLimitations vii
ProjectBackground ix Overview ix SurveyProcess ix ProjectTeam x Acknowledgements x
SurveyHighlights 1 ANewPhase:FromProjectstoPolicies 1 DifferentialImplementationProgress 1 MacroTrends 1 Donors 3 EnablingandLimitingFactors 3 EnlightenedLeadership 3
ICTPoliciesforEducationinAfrica 5 GeneralObservations 5 NationalICTPolicies 5 EducationSectorICTPoliciesandImplementationPlan 6 PolicyManagement 7
ICTInfrastructureforEducationinAfrica 9 GeneralObservations 9 InfrastructureinHigherEducation 10
TaBlE of ConTEnTs
Survey of ICT and Education in Africa: A Summary Report Based on 53 Country Surveysiv
InfrastructureinSchools 11 InfrastructureforNon-formalEducationandtheGeneralPublic 11
ICTActivitiesandInitiativesinHigherEducationinAfrica 13 Technical/VocationalEducationandTraining 13 Universities 13 DistanceEducationande-LearninginHigherEducation 14 ContentDevelopment 15
ICTActivitiesandInitiativesinPrimaryandSecondarySchools 17 GeneralObservations 17 EquipmentandConnectivity 17 TeacherProfessionalDevelopmentandTrainingProgrammes 20 ContentDevelopment 21 CostModels 22
ICTActivitiesandInitiativesinNon-formalEducationinAfrica 23 GeneralObservations 23
GenderEquityandICTinEducationinAfrica 25 GeneralObservations 25 PolicyEnvironment 25 GenderMainstreamingandTargetedApproaches 26
FactorsEnablingandConstrainingICTUseinEducationinAfrica 27
ICTinEducationinAfrica:AWayForward 29 MovingForwardonImplementationofICTinEducation 29 ContinuingtoBuildanInformationBaseforICTin
EducationinAfrica 30
Notes 31
Annexes 33 1.RegionalICT/EducationInitiativesinAfrica 35 2.SelectedBibliography 43
www.infodev.org Preface v
Thisstudyaimstobridgeacrucialgapinourknowledgeoftheuseofinformationandcommunicationtechnologies(ICTs)inAfrica.
Despite
widespreadbeliefsthatICTscanbeimportantpotentialleverstointroduceandsustaineducationreformeffortsinAfrica;anecdotalevidenceofincreasinglywidespreaddemandforanduseofICTsineducationinitiativesinAfricancountries;demonstratedinterestfromAfricanpolicymakersinusingICTstohelpmeetEducationForAll(EFA)objectives;scatteredandoftenuncoordinatedinitiativesutilizingICTstobenefiteducationthroughoutthecontinent;andmuchrhetoricrelatedtothedigitaldivide;therehasbeennoconsolidateddocumentationofwhatisactuallyhappeninginAfricainthisarea,norcomprehensivebaselinedataonthestateofICTuseineducationinAfricaagainstwhichfuturedevelop-mentscanbecompared.
A lack of information impacts planningAnecdotalevidencesuggeststhatmanyAfricancountriesanddonoragenciesarestrugglingtokeeptrackofICT/educationprojectsoverwhichtheyhavenocontrolandaboutwhichtheyoftenhavelittleknowl-edge,makingitunlikelythatlessonslearnedfromtheseprojectscaninformstrategyandplanningrelatedtoICTuseineducationgoingforward.ManyprivatesectorfirmsandcivilsocietyorganizationswithaninterestinsupportingeducationprogrammesandtechnologyinitiativesinAfrica(especiallywheresuchprojectsmayintersect)haveexpressedsimilarfrustrations.
A need for coordinationConversationswithcolleaguesatanumberoforganizationsdonors,governments,civilsociety,universi-ties,andtheprivatesectorinterestedinICTandeducationissuesinAfricasuggestthatmanyhavebeencontemplatingsimilarorrelatedtypesofdatacollectioneffortsinthisareaforsometime.Inordertoacceleratesuchactivities,infoDevhascoordinatedwithawidevarietyofgroupstohelpsupportandconsolidatetheresultsfromon-goingdatacollectioneffortsandthensharetheresultingdataaswidelyaspossible.Ataminimum,wehopethatthissurveyprocessshouldhelppreventduplicationofefforts,aswellassurveyfatigueonthepartofpotentialinformationsources.
No consolidated information resourceMuchrelevantdatacollectionhasalreadyoccurred,buttheresultsarescatteredacrossanumberofpublica-tionsanddatabases(manyofwhicharenotwidelyknown),heldwithinindividualorganizations,noteasilyaccessibletotheeducationcommunity,and/or,wherepublic,notwidelydisseminated.
ThisSurvey of ICT and Education in AfricaseekstogathertogetherinasingleresourcethemostrelevantandusefulinformationonICTineducationactivitiesinAfrica.Wehopethatthispublicationisafirststepina
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PREFACE
Survey of ICT and Education in Africa: A Summary Report Based on 53 Country Surveysvi
larger,on-going,systematic,coordinatedinitiativetotrackdevelopmentsintechnologyuseintheeducationsectortohelpinformawidevarietyofstakeholdersinterestedinthetopicastheyseeksolutionstolarger,morefundamentaleducationalanddevelopmentchallengesintheyearsahead.
MichaelTrucanoinfoDev
www.infodev.org Report Limitations vii
Thefollowinglimitationsshouldbenoted:
TheSummary Report Based on 53 Country Surveysattemptstosummarizekeyfindingsfromtheindi-vidualcountryreportsproducedduringthisproject.Assuch,itisnotanattempttosynthesizeallthatisknownaboutICTuseineducationinAfrica,andshouldbeseenasaguidetokeyfindingsandasser-tionsthatemergedduringthecountrysurveyprocesses.ThedatapresentedintheindividualCountry Reportsshouldberegardedasillustrativeratherthanexhaustive.Thissurveywasnotanexerciseinprimarydatacollection.Theguidelinesgiventocountryresearchersregardingreportlengthweredeliberateinordertoensureafocusonthemoresalien