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.