Evaluating ICT for Education in Africa - Royal Holloway, University of ...

two case studies from Ethiopia. It then deals with the issues of short-livedimpact, assumed value, and inherent worth of such initiatives beforereflecting on the different levels at which technology affects aspiration.8.3.1 Computers in the villageAt the InWent workshop for eLearning in Zschortau, Unami Mpofu, aconsultant and trainer, recounted the following story regarding the way inwhich introducing computers into schools affected community relationshipsin her home country of Zimbabwe (19/02/08):„It is like this with my people in Zimbabwe ... All the womenfrom the village go down to the river to collect water – onemother says to the others “my child is learning with acomputer at school”. Suddenly, because that child is the onlyone, the other mothers do not know how to respond and it killsthe community spirit. Or if you have a rural cooperative for avegetable garden in which the women all work together - onemother says “my child is working on a computer at school”and again you kill the community spirit. The thing is that itkills the community spirit – but no one will be able torecognise what has killed it. But the issue is that one child isgetting better education … The answer is not therefore lesscomputers – it is more – but it needs to be done with a broadbased approach – it needs to be looked at through thecommunity leaders.‟Mpofu went on to explain how such initiatives revolve around perceptions ofprogress. Parents assume that their child will be better educated if they getaccess to technology, giving them an advantage over other children. Similarly,the introduction of technology serves to improve the reputation of the school,meaning that the following year enrolment rates will be higher and all theparents in the local community will want their children to attend that schoolbecause it has a computer.327