A decade ago, the prospect of a fully-functional e-learning-based education system in Africa seemed farfetched. Africa’s broadband penetration was at an ultimate low, hindering the development of a decent communication infrastructure that would make e-learning a reality.
Fast-track to 2013 and the advent of technology is presenting a silver lining for governments attempting to propel their education systems into the new digital age. The digitisation of education is providing plenty alternatives to address the socio-economic challenges facing many emerging economies, particularly in terms of improving access to education.
Today we can claim to have a better glimpse of what the emerging markets’ education landscape will look like in the next decade.
As well as a growing sense of cautious optimism, there’s consensus that 10 years from now teachers may no longer need blackboards and chalks. Textbooks, pencils and pens will be redundant, and the dreaded bulky school bag will be history. There’s hope that learners across the emerging world, parts of our continent included, will trade their textbooks for affordable smartphones and tablets that are packed with an entire curriculum. This is in fact already happening in some parts of the emerging world.
As far back as 2011, governments in the Middle East were already discussing the complete digitisation of curricula at their schools with the likes of Microsoft.
In Ghana, a total of 40,000 laptops had been distributed to 372 primary schools across several regions by the beginning of this year as part of the country’s efforts to digitise the academic syllabus of both primary and secondary schools.
In the same vein, Sunward Park High School in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni became the first public school in the country to fully embrace digitalised access to education. This followed a pilot project between the school and MIB Technologies. According to the Department of Basic Education, Sunward Park, a former model C school, has eliminated all use of normal textbooks and its Grade 8 to Grade 12 learners and their teachers now use Android tablets as education tools. Each classroom now has a Wi-Fi access point.
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As opposed to spending significant amounts of money on text books, the learners’ parents will in future only have to pay for 7-inch and 10-inch tablets to be updated with the relevant academic year’s curriculum.
Other countries on the content also embracing e-learning include Uganda and Rwanda. In Rwanda, MTN has partnered with Ericsson to launch ‘Connect to Learn’. The programme is connecting schools in remote areas to the digital world with the intention of exposing learners to a bold new world of rich media content that improves learning and enables interactive and dynamic teaching.
In South Africa, mobile handset manufacturer Nokia has capitalised on the popularity of instant messaging social networking platform Mxit to launch MoMath, a mathematics teaching tool aimed at the youth.
There are many compelling reasons why the digitisation of education should be embraced. Around the world, according to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), an estimated 61 million children of primary school-going age are not in school. This is in addition to a further 71 million of lower secondary-school age and almost 800 million adults. The majority of these are in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Digitisation of education can assist in addressing many of the factors, including, access to education, affordability, language, distance, and discrimination. Furthermore, it enables the mass delivery of quality education across geographical boundaries.
Also, e-learning is easily accessible via the most popular mode of electronic communication on the continent – the cellphone. Africa has the highest mobile internet connectivity levels in the world, and for many on the continent, a cellphone is the first and probably only ‘computer’ they will ever own. This makes the inclusion of this tool as a key medium for the delivery of education a logical choice. Even the poorest of households on the continent has a mobile handset.
Africa is also on the brink of a new and exciting digital era brought about by a combination of African governments’ concerted efforts to make ICT a major part of their development plans and the continent’s investment in the undersea fibre optic cables. The government of Ethiopia, for example, has invested in billions in the construction of a mega ICT Park which will potentially be the equivalent of Silicon Valley in the United States in a few years. The country has prioritised investment in ICT as part of its five-year Growth and Transformational Plan aimed at putting it among middle-income countries by 2025.
Countries across the continent are already enjoying the benefits of massive investments in undersea fibre optic cables by African government and telecoms operators. The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and, most recently, West Africa Cable System (WACS) have connected several countries along the West and East Coast of Africa with the world. The digital dividend of these investments will set the continent on an unimaginable economic growth and economic transformation path that will change the face of many industries.
