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Agenda panafricain de recherche sur l’intégration pédagogique des TIC : synthèse de la Phase 1
VII. ICTs and gender in
primary and secondary
education in West and
Central Africa
24
Under a project funded by the IDRC, research
was conducted in 40 primary and
secondary “ICTs pioneer” schools in five
countries from 2004 to 2005. Discussions
with the participants uncovered certain realities
in West and Central Africa concerning ICTs
and gender. In the course of this trans-national
research project, we found that, although the computer
rooms in the schools studied held an almost
irresistible attraction for everyone, both students
and teachers raised gender-related issues of ICTs
access.
“The people in charge of the computer, multimedia
and information processing rooms were mostly, if
not exclusively, men. Women were rarely assigned
ICTs monitoring or teaching duties. However, in
about a dozen schools, we learned that special arrangements
had been made to allow the less technically
adept students to become more comfortable
with ICTs use. Unfortunately, the scheduling was
not always convenient, especially for women.
In the opinion of most school principals, if a difference
existed between the boys and girls, it was not
very apparent. They also stressed that both boys and
girls exhibited computer savvy and enjoyed using
ICTs. Generally, it appeared that the girls got better
marks in the computer class as well as in other
subjects.
At school, priority ICTs access was given to the
most motivated pupils, regardless of sex, although
the boys seemed to have more access to computers
outside of school, e.g., at cyber-cafés. Some teachers
remarked that, in terms of handling computer
tools, the boys seemed to have mastered the computer
better than the girls overall. In most cases,
a few boys were known as ICTs experts by their
friends. “
(Research into ICTs and Gender: Some Key
Themes (2003). Butcher, Neil et al., unpublished
paper, 21p. )
7.1
Gender-specific examples of
ICTs integration at different
teaching levels
Many sub-Saharan African countries need to
improve the quality of education and resolve the
equity issue. Discrimination against girls, or sexual
differentiation, is a serious concern and a barrier to
the integration of ICTs in education. The disparities
observed between girls and boys in learning to
use ICTs, at all education levels, underscores the
gender-specific nature of African societies, where