April 15, 2008

NEPAD E-Schools Business Plan to Be Rolled Out in Africa

By Gabi Khumalo, BuaNews (Tshwane), Johannesburg

The NEPAD e-Schools business plan is to be rolled out throughout Africa after it will be adopted at the e-Schools Stakeholders' Conference on Wednesday.

Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will on Wednesday open the two-day e-Schools stakeholders' conference, to be held in Kempton Park. e-Schools aim to harness Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) in a bid to improve the quality of teaching and learning in African primary and secondary schools and allow African pupils to participate in the global information society and knowledge economy.

The initiative was adopted as a high priority New Partnership Africa's Development (NEPAD) ICT project by the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee in March 2003. Currently, NEPAD has launched the e-Schools Initiative in 11 African countries in the initial phase of the project.

The business plan recommends different models for the continental roll-out such as the management and administration, communication, financing, common quality standards and the effective use of ICTs and information tools, for the initiative. The South African-leg of the e-Schools Project was opened last year by President Thabo Mbeki in Mpumalanga at the Maripe Secondary School.

During the unveiling of the project at the school, President Mbeki said ICTs should be used to develop brainpower needed to pull Africa out of poverty. "This project is about helping our young ones to acquire knowledge and the capacity to use their brains to change our country and continent for the better," he said at the time. Deputy Chairperson of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission Henry Chaisa, said the project aimed to ultimately create a critical mass of African youth with ICT skills.

"In these days, people need such skills in order to conduct business," Dr Chaisa said at the time. He said the project would go a long way in terms of narrowing the digital divide between the continent and others such as Europe, America and Asia, which are considered more technologically advanced.

Other South African schools that are part of initiative include Lomahasha High School in Mpumalanga, Hendrick Makapan Secondary School in North West, the Ipetleng Secondary School in Free State, Isiphosethu High School in KwaZulu-Natal and Thozamisa High School in the Eastern Cape.

African countries participating in the e-Schools initiative includes Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda . Each school is equipped with a computer laboratory containing at least 20 personal computers, a server and network infrastructure, as well as peripherals such as scanners, whiteboards and printers.

The ultimate aim is to roll out the programme in about 600 000 schools across the entire African continent over a period of 10 to 20 years.