IT and Educational Policy in the Sub-Saharan African Region

Abstract

Socioeconomic, Educational, and Cultural Context Through the lens of critical analysis, this chapter presents an overview of information technology (IT) and education policies in sub-Saharan Africa (the African countries south of the Sahara desert). The focus is on sub-Saharan Africa, not Africa in total, as Northern Africa is similar in many ways to the Middle East. IT-in-education policies in Northern Africa and the Middle East are discussed in the next chapter of this section (Ibrahim, 2008). The sub-Saharan region is a big one with diverse ethnic groups and different socioeconomic and education systems. There are 42 countries located on the sub-Saharan African mainland and 6 island nations. Before the 1960s, most of sub-Saharan Africa was under European colonization. In the nearly four decades after attain-ing political independence from the major European colonial powers, education has been seen as playing a central role in promoting the social and economic develop-ment of the region. As the political transformation of sub-Saharan Africa took place, leaders of newly independent governments viewed colonial educational policies of the past as biased against economic development, especially given the relatively low levels of educational enrolments in most sub-Saharan countries at the time, and the relatively small numbers of secondary-and higher-education graduates that were being produced. Given sub-Saharan Africa's historical legacy, most of the region's educational systems have been modeled largely on their European counterparts. Although sub-Saharan educational institutions have been modified partially to respond to local conditions, by and large, formal educational programs reflect the basic primary-, secondary-, and higher-education structures and standards found in 1145 J. Voogt, G. Knezek (eds.) International Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education, 1145–1159. © Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008 1146 Tilya European countries. For most sub-Saharan countries, this meant that educational policy and the allocation of resources to education have taken place essentially through the public sector rather than through the private sector, at the national level rather than at the local level, and frequently through the coordination of edu-cational policy targets with national development planning of one form or another (LeBel, 2000). According to LeBel (2000), a common assumption in many sub-Saharan coun-tries has been that the setting of national educational policy reflects popular demand in which decisions are based on popularity and not entirely on proper educational needs assessment. As elsewhere, in sub-Saharan Africa, education contributes to economic growth. Yet as sub-Saharan countries confront recent low rates of economic growth, and as the social demand for education increases, the educational sector is in a bit of crisis (LeBel, 2000). The protracted and deep-rooted economic crisis that has affected nearly every country in sub-Saharan Africa has adversely impacted on the well-being of the majority of the people (Mayor and Binde, 2001; Sarr, 2000; Teunissen and Akkerman, 2005). As a con-sequence, many sub-Saharans have experienced a decline in their welfare owing to a fall in real incomes and declining social sector expenditure per head (Basu and Stewart, 1993). In addition to that, many of the current education systems in the region are unable to cater for all their learners (at both the formal and nonformal levels). The education systems are often stretched with less-than-necessary financial resources, reduced number of teachers (many of whom are either under-or unqualified), and insufficient and poor-quality learning resources (Naidoo, 2003). At the same time, the world has entered the knowledge and information society, driven by information and intellectual products as raw materials (see also Anderson, 2008). In this context, the ability to transmit data over an information and commu-nication infrastructure is a crucial resource for any nation to participate effectively in the global information society and to address development challenges. This poses an additional challenge to sub-Saharan countries as education may demand more IT infrastructural resources. However, the successful deployment of ITs can contribute to the development of knowledge societies in the sub-Saharan countries and contrib-ute to bridging the digital divide. Despite the daunting challenges facing basic education in sub-Saharan Africa, the region is finding its own way in education. And even though resources are limited, there is no shortage of innovation, optimism, and courage. There is reform in the education sector to improve the availability, quality, and equity of basic education in the region (Nwaobi, 2007; LeBel, 2000). The social and economic progress of the sub-Saharan people, durable peace, and sustained development in sub-Saharan Africa depend on the success of the education sys-tems. Nowhere in the world has sustained development been attained without a well-functioning system of education, without universal and sound primary education, an effective higher education and research sector, and equality of educational opportunity.