SURVEY OF ICT AND EDUCATION IN AFRICA - infoDev

ICT Infrastructure forEDUCATION in AfricaGeneral ObservationsMost countries surveyed have, or are in the process of, liberalising their telecommunications policies toenable more competition and diversity of service providers in the industry. While this is having the effect oflowering the cost of access to information and telecommunication infrastructure, the costs of connectivityremain unaffordable for most education institutions. Furthermore, there are huge gaps between urban andrural areas in terms of access to ICT infrastructure.Access to a reliable supply of electricity is a general problem but is particularly severe in rural areas becauseof the difficulty of connecting to national electrical grids. There is a general lack of human resource capacityto provide ICT training and equipment servicing, and there is also a lag between the availability of ICTinfrastructure and the ability of agrarian societies to integrate it to benefit national development. Djibouti,for example, is at the forefront with a digital telecom network with two earth stations and the landing pointfor three undersea cables linking to Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. However, the country has yet todevelop an ICT education sector policy and has generally not yet benefited from these assets.Nevertheless, the Country Reports describe myriad initiatives that demonstrate that rapid changes areunderway—and that there are many instances where this generalised picture does not apply:nnnnnThe availability of mobile phone technology is increasing at a remarkable rate.Wireless networks are becoming increasingly common.Undersea cable projects such as the EASSy project are being planned to provide global connectivity forcountries that currently lack such access.A variety of public-private partnerships are emerging, particularly in the form of ICT trusts designed toencourage investment and stakeholder participation in ICT infrastructure development in education.(See the country reports for Kenya, Namibia, and Sudan for examples.)In the national ICT policies of several countries (notably Rwanda, Mauritius, Algeria, and Botswana),there is a declared intention to become a regional ICT service hub.However, it is worth noting that, with the development of ICT infrastructure, comes the problem of e-waste—electronic or electrical equipment that has been discarded or has become obsolete. This includes old, end-oflifecomputers, cell phones, TVs, and radios. E-waste is reportedly one of the fastest growing forms of wastearound the world. The United Nations Environmental Program has estimated that up to 50 million metrictons of e-waste are generated every year. Recently, the United Nations has called for policies to protectAfrican countries from unregulated imports of e-waste. 3Schools and universities across Africa have experienced significant use of second-hand and refurbished PCsobtained from groups like Computer Aid International, Digital Links, and World Computer Exchange.This has led to the establishment of local PC refurbishment and technical service centres in a few Africanwww.infodev.org ICT Infrastructure for Education in Africa