Transforming education: the power of ICT policies - Commonwealth ...

apple That a number of successful capacity-building courses were executed by the Namibian e-Learning Centre
(NeLC).
apple That localized ICT syllabuses for secondary school learners were developed and approved.
apple And that impactful partnerships (e.g. with ICDL) for ICT literacy development have been achieved.
However, the review also found that the structures for implementation were not properly implemented which
constrained the implementation of the plan. These include that the ICT in Education Steering Committee did
not meet regularly which resulted in inadequate consultation with stakeholders and that the TECH/Na! Project
Management Offi ce was not yet established. Similarly, whilst the eLearning Centre was well established there were
concerns that the Namibian e-learning capacity that was developed was not utilised for the development of local
e-learning content.
It also found the NETSS Centre was established and did some deployments but did not operate as a “one-stop
shop” for support and repairs as was envisaged. It has been functioning as if for small-scale deployment. Since it
received large numbers of equipment which had to be inventoried, tested, installed with approved content and
software, dispatched to institutions and installed, the centre struggled to deploy and install them owing to a lack
of adequate staffi ng (Swarts et al., 2009).
The review also recognizes ways in which policy implementation could be improved. It recommends that the
structures such as the Project Management Offi ce for Tech/Na! be made operational and that it functions effectively
if the ambitions of the national implementation plan is to be realized. It also proposes the strengthening of the
NETSS Centre and defi ning more clearly the roles and function of the IT division of the NETSS Centre given its
prominence in the implementation of Tech/Na!
It further recommends that the human resource capacity for ICT integration be developed at all levels and that
regular and clear communication between all stakeholders be developed in order to enable the working groups
from the ICT in Education Steering Committee to be involved in negotiating partnerships
It also recommended that the M&E component needs to be urgently integrated within all the processes and
programme management of the Tech/Na! plan for continuous feedback and timely adjustments (Swarts et al., 2009).
The review of the Tech/Na! Implementation Plan is comprehensive and has served as a basis for stakeholder
learning. Some progress was witnessed since the review was published, such as increased regularity of meetings of
the Steering Committee and the incorporation of the NETSS Centre into the Ministry of Education and its ability to
reduce the backlog that had accumulated over time.
Conclusion
The policy process in Namibia has evidently been a dynamic living process involving a wide range of very active
stakeholders in the public, private and NGO sectors. The policy evolved steadily from the 1990s until when it
was adopted in 2005. It was followed by an implementation plan which was also evaluated independently after
a few years; this is testimony to the dynamic, visionary leadership and commitment of Namibia’s education
stakeholders. The way the Policy and Implementation Plan are articulated refl ects the collective imagination on
how ICT can enable the transformation of the country’s education system, how it can be acquired and deployed,
how stakeholders would learn, and how the technologies could be used in learning, teaching and the management
of education institutions. This articulation demonstrates the pertinent issues and debates that prevailed during
the late 1990s and the fi rst few years of the new millennium. This is evident from the maturity model presented in
the Policy, the way curriculum change and teacher development is conceptualized in the Policy, which are perhaps
the most insightful expression of how thinking emerged at the time of what was meant by the integration of ICT in
education, how this could be measured and how this could morph towards higher levels of integration and use.
Case Study: Namibia | 91