ICTs in African Schools Workshop

Ms Shafika Isaacs, Executive Director of Schoolnet Africa, notes that the list of current participants confirms that this event is truly Pan African, as it was intended to be. Participants will share African experiences, triumphs and failures, amongst themselves and with members of international agencies and organisations.

“To date we have been swamped with requests from African teachers and principals from schools in remote areas wanting to attend the workshop. Unfortunately, due to funding constraints, we are not able to accommodate everyone. However this definitely shows the enthusiasm and interest in the African education community to discuss the possibilities that ICTs offer. We are currently looking at ways of involving everyone using ICTs!”

The Honorable Minister of Education (Botswana), Mr. Kgeledi George Kgoroba, will open the workshop. He shall elaborate on the challenges faced by African countries: appropriate technological solutions for African schools, educational content and capacity building, costing models and sustainability. The Honourable Lephimotse Boyce Sebetlela, Minister of Communications, Science and Technology, Botswana will close the workshop.

The delegation will discuss the use of ICTs in African Schools to assist policy formulation in Africa and across the Globe, and to bridge the educational and digital divides in Africa. The workshop further seeks to address a range of topics and issues that affect school networking practice at grassroots level. These include:

• How do we use ICTs most effectively in the African educational context?
• What is the educational value of using ICTs in education in Africa?
• What are the policy implications of an integrated educational solution that effectively uses ICTs?
• Should African schools use refurbished computers imported mainly from the North?
• How do we determine appropriate software solutions for African schools in view of the increasing use of open source software?

A key feature of the workshop agenda is the Donor and Private Sector Round Table where representatives from the leading donor agencies and private sector organisations will speak of their programmes on ICTs in African education in a dialogue with policymakers and practitioners. This provides a unique opportunity to further enhance multi-stakeholder involvement in current initiatives, avoiding duplication and increasing effectiveness.

“The real challenge will be to find sustainable solutions for the use of ICTs in African education. So far we see too many activities that are not capable of supporting themselves over time. If we allow this to continue more and more people will become disappointed and sceptical on the added value of ICT for education and disregard a very powerful tool.” says Nathan Ducastel, (International Institute for Communication and Development)."

The workshop aims to conclude with concrete ideas that encourage digital inclusion and quality ICT-enabled education for Africa’s youth.

Programme Update

The programme has been finalised and is published on the workshop website www.schoolnetafrica.net/IAS2020.

The main issues that will be addressed are:

• The potential and challenges of ICTs in African Education – for example. “Are ICTs worth investing in given the cost and other problems that prevail in Africa?”
• ICT use: Educational value, content and capacity building – for example “How do we encourage girls to use ICTs?”
• Appropriate educational technologies in Africa – for example. “Should Africa import refurbished computers?”
• Practitioners meet policymakers – for example. “How can policy and practise work together for a better future?

Recent research papers covering these topics will provide a background for the discussions. The papers will be available at the website from March31 onwards.

Discussion groups

In preparation of the workshop, a series of e-discussions with registered participants will be held starting 25 March 2020.

a. Appropriate Technological Solutions (facilitated by Shafika Isaacs - SchoolNet Africa)

b. Building Capacity and Developing Content (facilitated by Tony Bloome – World Bank Institute)

c. ICTs add Learning Value and Developing a Gender Perspective (facilitated by Nathan Ducastel – IICD)

d. Resourcing and Sustainability (facilitated by Vis Naidoo – Commonwealth of Learning)

ISSUED BY:

Workshop Organising Committee:

Botswana Ministry of Education (http://www.gov.bw/moe/index.html)

Commonwealth of Learning (www.col.org)

International Institute for Communication and Development (http://www.iicd.org/)

Schoolnet Africa (www.schoolnetafrica.net)

The World Bank Institute (www.worldbank.org)

For more information contact Vis Naidoo at [email protected] or 1 – 604 – 775 8261 (Vancouver, Canada) or Lawase Akpolou at [email protected]. Please note that the media is welcome to attend the workshop.