Technological Infrastructure and Use of ICT in Education in ... - ADEA

Technological Infrastructure and Use of ICT in Education in Africa: an overview
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Foreword................................................
The publication of the overview on existing technological infrastructure
and the use of ICT in education in sub-Saharan countries as well as
other forthcoming studies undertaken by the Working Group on Distance
Education & Open Learning on best practices and cost-effectiveness of
distance education in sub-Saharan Africa are in line with the Group’s
plan of activities. I am sure that all stakeholders of education in Africa
will welcome this initiative as a valuable contribution to the dearth of
information on ICT and education in the region.
In fact, the Report comes at an opportune time when we all realize how
crucial it is for decision making regarding educational changes to be
informed by relevant research and analytical work. Based on current
literature, this desktop study on ICT in sub-Saharan countries will, no
doubt, provide decision makers with some useful insights into the major
issues and challenges of introducing technology in education. In Africa
more than in other developing countries, competing priorities such as
the combat against HIV/AIDS, poverty and illiteracy, and local constraints
including poor technology penetration, unaffordability of equipment and
lack of capacity plead for caution and rigour in planning, implementing
and measuring change. In this regard, the Report also underlines the
importance of well-costed projects and the selection of pedagogically
sound technologies in order to optimize teaching and learning.
Although the choice of ICT should equally take into account the widely
used “older” technologies such as print, radio and television, it is becoming
more and more evident that “leapfrogging” technologies, wherever
possible, remains the primary alternative for quicker response to the
daunting challenge of access and equity. The rate of 26 per cent of
secondary enrolment and 3.9 per cent of tertiary participation in Africa,
for example, compares very unfavorably with that of most developing
countries outside Africa where it has reached up to 51 per cent and 10.9
per cent respectively. One can only acknowledge that this disparity is set
to widen if no just-in-time and adequate measures are taken.
For both technological and pedagogical reasons, many African countries
are ready to envisage adopting state of the art technologies in order
to leapfrog into the future. The former view that developing countries
should follow every stage in the historical development of distance
education from correspondence courses to online learning is no longer
predominant. Complementary and convergent use of technologies