Jubie Matlou
“The next Bill Gates will come from Africa.” These were the words of former communications minister Jay Naidoo at the opening of the previous International Telecommunication Union event in South Africa Africa Telecom 1998.
An initiative SchoolNetAfrica hopes to achieve that goal by connecting thousands of the continent’s schools to the Internet. SchoolNetAfrica’s Operation Dot Learn programme seeks to dovetail scores of initiatives spread across the continent by delivering Internet access to schools, and by using new technologies as a medium for delivering education.
In the next three years Operation Dot Learn programme aims to:
Connect African schools to the Internet;
Build champions to lead and develop national schoolnets;
Pilot the development of an online curriculum;
Create a knowledge warehouse;
Promote the development of world-class learners through its ThinkQuest Africa competition; and
Lobby and advocate for cheap Internet access for schools in Africa.
SchoolNetAfrica’s underlying philosophy is that information and communication technologies have significant potential to enhance education in Africa. SchoolNetAfrica stands for the right of every African child to have access to information and knowledge, and to be a global citizen.
The initiative is funded and partnered by the Open Society Institute for Southern Africa and, since inception, has been supported by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
Shafika Isaacs, SchoolNetAfrica executive director, says the organisation has had an initial investment of about $400 000. “Some of which has been spent on developing the network among schoolnet formations across the continent and some of which will be spent on setting up a pan-African organisation based in South Africa. We are in the process of completing a business plan that will ascertain the amount of capital required during the first five years.
“One must also take into account there have been existing individual schoolnet formations in up to 23 African countries with whom we are working. The investment at this level varies from country to country. For instance SchoolNet South Africa has been in existence for the past three-and-a-half years and has invested about $4-million to $5-million through partnerships with the IDRC, Thintana, Telkom and the Department of Education,” Isaacs says.
SchoolNetAfrica’s affiliates have established partnerships with the ministries of education and telecommunications, the private sector and NGOs. Its steering committee has already forged partnerships with major donors including the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and Unesco.
Infrastructure access to electricity, school buildings, classrooms and desks in schools across Africa remains a challenge since much of this is underdeveloped across the continent.
“The high cost of computers and the exceptionally high cost of Internet connectivity in Africa [are an inhibiting factor]. We are experimenting with low-cost technological solutions. Many of the existing schoolnets have started their programmes with schools that are more resourced in terms of infrastructure and hope to roll out to less advantaged schools on the basis of twinning more resourced schools with less-resourced schools. A number of schoolnets have clearly identified the most disadvantaged schools in rural areas for selection. This is particularly the case with SchoolNet Cameroon and in Namibia: their target is to connect all of their 1 500 schools by focusing attention on the schools that are ‘off the electricity grid’,” Isaacs says.
Isaacs says a conducive policy and regulatory regime is already developing across the continent. She cites South Africa’s 50% subsidy onInternet access for schools (as contained in the telecommunication policy directives) as a positive development.
SchoolNetAfrica will be officially launched next Monday. Its headquarters are in Johannesburg and it is governed by a 12-member steering committee representing 10 countries from five sub-regions across the continent, and includes a representative from the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
For more information contact the SchoolNetAfrica press liaison officer, Heba Ramzy [email protected], or the executive director, Shafika Isaacs at shafika@school netafrica.org.za