SURVEY OF ICT AND EDUCATION IN AFRICA - infoDev

Table 3: Computer Penetration Ratios at Schools in Selected African Countries,2006Number of Schools with Percentage schoolsCountry schools computers with computersEgypt 26,000 26,000 100%*Ghana 32,000 800 2.5%Mozambique 7,000 80 1.1%Namibia 1,519 350 22.1%South Africa 25,582 6,651 22.6%*Based on figures obtained from the Ministry of Education in Egypt, 2006.ment of formal schools—estimated at 600,000—which has been factored into its recently developedbusiness plan.Teacher Professional Development andTraining ProgrammesResearch conducted by SchoolNet Africa, the Commonwealth of Learning, and the International Institutefor Communication and Development (2004) identified an estimated 61 different ICT-related teachertrainingand professional development programmes, projects, and courses under way in Africa. Since then,additional national and regional teacher professional development programmes have emerged. It is difficultto estimate the numbers of teachers with access to ICTs and who have been trained in their use for learningand teaching.Most countries surveyed have had some investment in developing the capacity of teachers to use ICTs as ateaching and learning resource through both in-service and pre-service programmes. Most teacher-trainingprogrammes in Africa involve the development of basic ICT skills, sometimes as an end in itself, although insome cases these include the application of ICTs as a learning tool for teachers.Teacher training often involves one-off, topic-led, short-term training programmes that aim to developspecific skills of teachers, but which do not necessarily comply with professional standards of competencydevelopment. Training programmes run by Mtandao Afrika and the Global Teenager Project are amongthese. However, the systematised, initial, continuous, coherent, and modular process of professional developmentof African educators in accordance with professional competency standards and frameworks is makingits way in many African countries through the use of ICTs. 12UNESCO’s Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa (TTISSA) and the African Virtual University(AVU) Teacher Education Project feature among the most significant, multi-country regional programmespromoting teacher professional development and ICT integration. TTISSA is a high-priority programme onteacher professional development in Africa scheduled for 2006–2015 with a focus on supporting the 46 sub-Saharan countries on restructuring national teacher policies and teacher education. Its main aim is toincrease the number of teachers and to improve the quality of teaching in Africa, and it considers the use ofICTs as a strong component of the programme. The AVU established an ambitious teacher educationproject which involves 10 African countries in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB) andthe New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in 2006. The programme focuses on mathematicsand science education and the integration of ICTs in and across the teaching of the curricula in these twosubject areas. The intention is to contribute to the growth of more and better quality teachers through theuse of flexible, open, distance, and e-learning methodologies at an affordable cost for diploma, undergraduate,and graduate levels. The specific objectives of the project are to enhance the capacity of teachers in the20Survey of ICT and Education in Africa: A Summary Report Based on 53 Country Surveys