NN40, May 2008
Education for Sustainable Development? Or The Sustainability of Education Investment? A Special Issue
Paving a Sustainable Electronic Highway to Africa?s Schools?
By Karim Toledano, EduVision, The Education Company, Switzerland
Email: karim.toledano@eduvision.ch1. Introduction
The notion of investing scarce financial resources on the promotion and implementation of ICT strategies in furtherance of sustainable development is often contentious. A common argument made is that such resources are better used for more immediate and tangible problems. Such arguments are sincere in addressing the need to prioritise. Yet they neglect the need for longer-term investments to get out from under the development treadmill by treating its causes, rather than the symptoms. This does not mean that more immediate survival problems must not be taken care of too, but that they should not be seen in terms of competition. Rather they should be treated as different issues with each having a strong justification. In line with the latest thinking in development assistance, new and additional resources need to be directed towards empowering societies and individuals to manage future challenges on their own.
Education and access to information are universally recognized as the most important enabler in this regard. Governments worldwide have acknowledged this by prioritizing education in the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Meeting the MDGs, however, has proven difficult for a number of reasons. Many developing countries have made significant progress in increasing primary and secondary school enrolment rates. However, ensuring that students enrolled in schools are receiving the high quality education that will be relevant to the challenges of tomorrow remains a major challenge. These challenges relate to funding constraints, teacher quality and availability as well as the overall infrastructure (both in terms of buildings and education materials). Furthermore, on-the-ground realities such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, high birth rates, food insecurity and civil unrest create additional constraints in certain regions in meeting the targets. Traditional education models, and the development assistance that has supported them so far, are not in themselves capable of addressing all these challenges: innovative alternatives must be pursued.
2. ICT for Education
ICT for education presents tremendous opportunities for innovation. It is not a miracle-cure, and does not change the physical reality that more schools will have to be built, and more teachers hired to fill these classrooms. The provision of quality education, however, is dependent on more than just teachers and classrooms. The quality of the content taught, the materials used to teach it and the skills that are developed are also of great importance. And in this arena ICT innovations have great potential, particularly with regard to access to information, collaboration and the creation and sharing of ideas. The realization of these, however, will require new innovations in the methods of implementation.
The concept of deploying ICT for education in developing countries is relatively new ? this year, for example, marks only the third anniversary of the e-Learning Africa conference. As a result of this, many initiatives in the field are confined to smaller ?pilots? or ?trials?. However, for the field to have a real impact these must be greatly expanded.
3. From Concept to Realization
The field of ICT for education brings together ideas from three disparate groups: groups, sharing the same overall objectives, but that have often had a difficult time operating in effective partnerships. The successful introduction of ICT into education will continue to depend primarily on the public sector- national and local governments and the international development community (inter-governmental agencies). NGOs have long been active in promoting educational innovations and solutions, generally on small and pilot scales. Thirdly, there is the increasingly proactive and integrated role of the private sector in extending communication technologies throughout the continent.
The potential for new forms of partnerships between entrepreneurs, civil society organisations and the development community is enormous. There are, however, a number of challenges that will have to be overcome to fully realize the potential for a greater impact.
From an outsider perspective the fact that these parties struggle to work in collaboration is puzzling. Fundamentally they all share the same overall goal ? sustainable economic development in developing countries. Furthermore, they are all active in the same sector: education. The successful introduction of ICT for education, however, requires the expertise and support of all sectors. The international development community is ideally suited to support initiatives in their early stages. Indeed without this support many will not see the light of day. Beyond just financial support, early stage concepts must be developed and trialled under the umbrella of a comprehensive and standardized monitoring and evaluation framework. In this manner, their potential for realizing tangible benefits for education can be determined- and it is often the role of NGOs to implement and evaluate such pilot trials.
A sustainable introduction of a new technology, however, is dependent on more than just its potential to realize benefits in terms of education: it must also create an economically viable construct that entities are willing to invest in, year after year, to maintain because it is advantageous to do so. It is at this stage that private sector involvement should be encouraged, in ways that are appropriate to sustainable development. The challenge of ?paving? a solid information channel connecting schools in Africa with curriculum and information that is cost effective and current may best be addressed by the private sector. The private sector may have an inherent capacity to invest upfront and pay off investments through the small scale payments of multiple users over time; it has capacity to partner and network, and it has the flexibility to apply resources where needed, when needed. The private sector has generally always had a role in education, through publication of textbooks. An increased role, through paving new means of providing textbooks electronically (with less waste to paper and shipping costs) is part of the future. Another, equally compelling part is the development of service industries that can employ and train people in building skills to use new technologies and develop local ownership over the technologies and training capacities.
4. Conclusion
The market for ICT in education is still at early stages of development in developed countries ? and even more so in developing ones. However, there is a new trend towards affordable technology solutions, pioneered by the One Laptop Per Child project but now replicated by others. There is also a growing awareness in governments and donor agencies that these technologies may hold great potential for achievement of education goals.
Herein lies the impetus for collaboration. Governments in developing countries must take interest in these developments. Intergovermental organisations and donor agencies should give greater consideration to models of investment and return, and overcoming the risks that impede investment from all sectors. NGOs open doors through pilots and trials to prove that concepts work. The private sector has developed the technology and has the know-how to implement it. Each has a critical role to play and working together can build the combined resources needed to invest in solutions to challenges, and ?well-paved? virtual roads to schools. Ensuring that these approaches are really sustainable will take serious political commitment.
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