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

52 Working Group on Distance Education and Open Learning
permanently damaging developmental effects. In addition, this situation
also places pressures on governments to make difficult decisions about
sectoral spending.
The table also provides some information about HIV/AIDS. For all countries
depicted here, except for Egypt and Morocco, there is a high number of
people infected. Particularly worrying is the number of children infected.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic has implications for education in several ways,
as will be addressed below. Most countries in Africa now have both
preventive and treatment programmes, although some countries have
been very slow to recognize the severity of the problem.
These basic socio-economic statistics paint an alarming picture about
the state of the African continent. There is reason for concern and this
should be translated into action to address the many challenges that lie
ahead. However, these statistics do not show the wealth of initiatives in
many African countries and across the continent as a whole that seek
to tackle these issues and encourage development of the continent
(examples of these are provided in later sections of this report).
5.2.....Educational Context
The importance of education for a country and region’s well-being,
development, and prosperity is now commonly acknowledged. This
section aims to provide further contextual detail about the current
educational landscape in African countries.
5. Socio-Economic Context of Sub-Saharan Africa
Compared to global trends, African education lags behind. In Africa,
natural and human-made disasters and conflicts have placed extreme
pressure on educational systems, many of which are built on weak
physical and institutional bases. In addition, many countries in Africa
have been victims of austere structural adjustment programmes, which,
among other consequences, have led to cuts in educational expenditure.
This, together with increasing debt burdens, governance problems, an
unsupportive global economic context, and the impact of HIV/AIDS,
means that the basic human right of access to education has been
denied to many (Sub-Saharan African Education for All Framework for
Action, 1999). The statistics below describing the African educational
context bear witness to these observations. However, education has
been recognized as a fundamental pillar of African development. This
means that, although the journey towards an integrated and fully
functioning educational environment that equips African people for the