Ict In Developing World

ICT in developing world. Will we ever accomplish MDGs?

Since the inception of internet from Tim Lee Berners, followed by the technological innovations making its way through the history of ICT, world has shortened into a crystal ball which can be spun by a mouse on your computer. Web 2.0 tools, Social media and distributed networks have changed the way people will communicate with each in the future. "Technology will not replace teachers...teachers who use technology will probably replace teachers who do not." - Ray Clifford . United Nations have set up its Millenium Development Goals for 2015 in terms of education that promises to implement free standardized education for every child on earth. One of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is achievement of universal primary education by 2015. We must ensure that information and communication technologies (ICTs) are used to help unlock the door to education. Kofi Annan (2005). So far project is way behind its global timeline. ICT4E (Information Communication Technology for Education) and ICT4D (Information Communication Technology for development) have played significant impact on development of communication technologies in developing world but have failed to contribute towards MDGs in a significant manner. With significant research and developmental efforts in this area, we have huge body of knowledge and theories but it will not be unfair to say that ICT implementation on grass root levels in developing countries has significantly failed to perform expected. Failure can be attributed to various reasons ranging from micro to macro issues like lack of comprehensible plan, resources, management, intentions of officials and UN structure. “ICT … consists of hardware, software, networks, and media for collection, storage, processing, transmission, and presentation of information (voice, data, text, images).” As Defined in the Information & Communication Technology Sector Strategy Paper of the World Bank Group, April 2002.

I would briefly discuss the developmental efforts and current situation in different geographical regions to overview the current situation of ICT development. There are numerous publications in this domain that highlight the research that has been conducted in order to emphasize issues and to propose a solution. Some of the important ones are ‘Monitoring and Evaluation of ICT for Education Impact: A Review’ R. B. Kozma, ‘Core Indicators for Monitoring and Evaluation Studies for ICT for Education’ R. B. Kozma and D. A. Wagner, ‘Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for ICT for Education’ T. James and J. Miller, ‘Capacity Building and Management in ICT for Education’ T. Unwin, ‘Pro-Equity Approaches to Monitoring and Evaluation: Gender,Marginalized Groups and Special Needs Populations’ D. Wagner, ‘Dos and Don’ts in Monitoring and Evaluation’ T. Unwin & B. Day, ‘Obstacles to the integration of ICT in education: results from a worldwide educational assessment’, W.J Pelgrum, ‘Barriers to

investment in ICT’ by M Bugamelli, ‘Pedagogy before Technology: Re-thinking the Relationship between ICT and Teaching’ by DM Watson. Different cultures have different views about ICT and their readiness to help their children acquire these skills. In Senegal parents are more than willing to pay the costs of their children’s ICT needs in school, paying in the form of computers, connection and other hardware, which is a very good sign and evidence of willingness of parents and society as a whole to contribute towards ICT proliferation. In Vadodara, India in an experiment where children used computer mathematics games two hours a week performed significantly well than the students who didn’t. It would be a good research question as to why they didn’t but this is clear evidence of the fact that ICT has the advantage over traditional face to face or guided-learning. The attitudes of teachers towards the work they do with the support of digital technologies continue to be an important indicator of educational value. In 2003, a monitoring scale was developed to assess the attitudes of Costa Rican teachers towards ICT in education, within the National Program of Educational Informatics of the Ministry of Public Education and the Omar Dengo Foundation. The scale evaluates 11 attitudinal dimensions, including: the value that teachers place on technology, their motivation to work as educators, their satisfaction with the Program, their self-perception on their capacity to teach, their vision of future, their sense of control over the technology, and their disposition to learn abilities related to technology. The scale was applied to a total of 319 teachers of educational informatics during 2003, as well as to a small group of teachers in a study that compared two schools that do not belong to the program with two similar schools that belong to the Program. Among the important fi ndings were the following: • the geographic zone in which the teachers work is not associated with differences in their attitudes towards technology in the teaching-learning process, which are generally positive. • the number of years of experience in their teaching position is a variable that is positively correlated with their vision of future, the positive perception of their own performance and the feeling of control over technology. • Teachers in multi-grade schools (one-room schools serving populations of K-6 students), where a single teacher works, are the ones that show greater satisfaction with the Program. • Teachers working in the Program tend to value the role of technology; they are more satisfi ed with their capacities to teach, and they feel that they can achieve better results with students. • The Program seems, overall, to be able to create conditions and opportunities for the development of capacities in teachers, which support the achievement of equity.

• These results suggest that teachers who work with digital technologies have positive self-perceptions that enhance their capabilities in the classroom. Adapted from: Fundación Omar Dengo22. For more information: http://www.fod.ac.cr/ courtesy ICT Handbook for developing countries, UN.

Beginning in February 2000, SchoolNet Namibia set up computer laboratories in some 112 schools, launched an ISP and successfully connected the schools to it. It showed how this could be done in rural and disadvantaged areas where there were neither telephone lines nor connections to the power grid. Through mentoring and training, SchoolNet had become a test bed and demonstrator for technical solutions that challenged more widely used proprietary operating systems. In the Khanya project, the Provincial Education Department in the Western Cape Province of South Africa has been rolling out computers and connectivity to enhance the delivery of curriculum throughout the province. Since 2000, Khanya has deployed some 12,000 computers across nearly 600 schools out of the 1500 in the province. About 9,000 teachers and 300,000 learners are being touched by the project so far. While deployment of computers and software, creation of LANs and connections to the Internet are critical components, the core objective of Khanya Project is to use ICT in the delivery of curriculum—to teach mathematics, science and other learning areas in secondary schools, and literacy and numeracy in primary schools. The intention is to empower teachers and learners to develop their own material, gain planning and organizational skills through lesson planning, enhance the delivery of curricula and to put learners in township and rural schools in touch with the rest of the world through the Internet and email. Realizing the potential that new technologies have to transform education in a relatively poor country, the Chilean government initiated the Enlaces program in 1990. One of the key findings from this has been that ‘well-trained and motivated teachers can improve the learning conditions with ICT, and can acquire ICT skills together with their students, thus preparing them more properly for the emerging knowledge society’. Vounteers were sent to work directly with 10 organizations in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. They trained more than 300 people who represented 44 organizations in the region. The principal skills taught by the volunteers included software training (Microsoft Office, Internet navigators, Microsoft Front Page, Netscape Composer, e-mail applications, database design) and adaptive technologies (among them, Scan and Read for the blind, and adaptive devices for people with impaired mobility). The project had a direct impact at three different levels: 1) introducing adaptive hardware and software, 2) training people with disabilities, and 3) training disability organizations as trainers. (Batchelor et al., 2003.) In Pakistan, increased investment in telecommunication sector and training programs on grass root level are taking place at an unprecendented pace. In four provinces, Punjab, Sindh, NWFP

and Balochistan, regular teacher training programs are arranged. NGOs like Islamic Relief, Unicef and Sahara are actively participating in community-based resource provision. Conferences, seminars and workshops are being conducted for creating an awareness about ICT skills and its importance. With all this work done, there is still a national ICT policy that is missing and country-wide ICT training initiative that is yet to be started. Lack of physical resources is also a problem where computers, internet and logistics are main problems specially in rural areas in northern part of country.

All these are an evidence of support and development in ICT domain but will this ever be streamlined to contribute towards our global goals of making education universal at least uptil primary levels? Distance education, distributed networks, blended learning, open educational resources and open universities will ever make it possible for children to learn and be accredited for their learning? There are always more to these questions but unless we promise to turn our theories and efforts into tangible help for the billions who need education to empower themselves and their cultures, we are on step 1. Be it government policies, import taxes on computers, filtering of digital content or copyright issues, are we contributing towards MDGs and playing our part? This question will haunt many of us who would love to see a peaceful, educated and happy world for decades to come.