SURVEY OF ICT AND EDUCATION IN AFRICA - infoDev

nnnnnnsourced second-hand and refurbished PCs and have imposed minimum specifications when obtainingthe PCs. In these cases organisations like SchoolNet Namibia, SchoolNet Mozambique, World LinksZimbabwe, SchoolNet Nigeria (in partnership with organisations like the Education Tax Fund),Computers for Schools Kenya, and SchoolNet Uganda have established PC refurbishment centres ortechnical services centres that support the deployment of computers, maintenance, and support toschools.VSATSome countries have experimented with very small aperture terminal (VSAT) solutions that enableremote access through the use of satellite and help overcome limitations imposed by vast distances andrugged terrain. SchoolNet Uganda initiated a pilot with 11 schools in 2001 that brought some benefitsbut that also proved expensive and unsustainable. The private sector consortia in the NEPAD e-SchoolsDemo Project promoted VSAT solutions in some countries such as Mali and Senegal.ElectricityLack of access to electricity, especially in rural schools, is an added challenge that some countries haveconfronted. For example, SchoolNet Namibia piloted the use of solar panels in schools. In Nigeriaschools have invested in generators to accommodate regular power outages. The NEPAD e-SchoolsDemo Project also made use of generators in Uganda.Mobile phonesMore recently, mobile phones have been used for learning in South Africa with the piloting of the Mathon MXit and MobilEd programmes by the Meraka Institute. In Kenya the use of short message system(SMS) among teachers has also been tried.Multi-channel learningOrganisations like Mindset Network in South Africa have introduced a multiple platform approach inthe distribution of its locally produced electronic education content to schools. These include satellitebroadcast and satellite datacast which accommodate video on demand, content servers networked toPCs, DVDs, the Web, and more recently, mobile devices.Open sourceAlmost all countries surveyed have made use of both open source and proprietary software solutions. InSouth Africa, even though the government supports open source software, it also has an agreement withMicrosoft that promotes free Microsoft software for all schools. This agreement will be under reviewshortly. SchoolNet Namibia has been in the forefront in promoting FLOSS in schools through thepromotion of its OpenLab modelInternet accessMany schools that do have computers still do not have access to the Internet. The Internet can provide awealth of learning resources that many African schools at present are not yet able to access because thecost is prohibitive. In South Africa, for example, of the estimated 6,000 schools that have access to PCs,only an estimated 2,500 have Internet access.Connectivity solutions include legislation promoting an e-rate that offers discounted access to theInternet for schools, even though in some countries (e.g., South Africa) such legislation has facedimplementation challenges. In Lesotho, the Ministry of Education has negotiated, at least in principle,Internet access to schools at reduced rates. In Senegal, Sonatel makes discounted Internet access availableto schools, and in Namibia, an agreement between SchoolNet Namibia and Telecom Nambia provides24/7 flat rate access to all schools.Some countries have begun the evolution to broadband access that also supports schools. Mauritius isconsidered a “cyber island” in this context as 90% of the island to date can be considered a “hot spot”with wireless Internet access. In Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation and a host ofpartners established a state-of-the-art multimedia broadband backbone infrastructure with a core nucleusof 4,000 kilometres of optical fibre. This same network has provided a backbone for the first phase of theschoolnet initiative in that country.Table 3 below provides some estimates of numbers of schools reached with computers in a sample selectionof African countries. Notably, the NEPAD e-Schools project has targeted the reach of Africa’s full comple-www.infodev.org ICT Activities and Initiatives in Primary and Secondary Schools in Africa 19