The Emergence of SchoolNet Africa Shafika Isaacs Executive Director SchoolNet Africa

February 2002 SNA Presentation Harvard Over the past three years… Mushrooming of “schoolnets” across Africa Schoolnet – an institution at national level, promoting promote learning and teaching through ICTs – Facilitates distribution and installation of computers in schools – Promotes teacher development through ICTs – Supports policy development on ICTs and education – Promotes content and curriculum development through ICTs

February 2002 SNA Presentation Harvard ICTs and Development Part of ICTs and development initiatives Hypothesis: ICTs promote development and empowerment of African communities – ICTs improve access to education – ICTs enhance and transform learning and teaching – ICTs improve school and education management

February 2002 SNA Presentation Harvard Status of School Networking in Africa – In all 5 African sub-regions – In 23 countries – Pan-African initiatives IDRC Acacia, World Links, IEARN, Imfundo, Schools Online, UNESCO, UNDP – Set to increase: global initiatives Dot Force, USAID Dot Com, World Economic Forum

February 2002 SNA Presentation Harvard Various models Predominantly pilot projects Predominantly donor-supported Various models emerged over three years: Government-led (Botswana, Tunisia, Egypt, Swaziland) NGO with strong government and private sector partners (Namibia, South Africa) In-house projects within existing institutions (Mozambique, Lesotho, Angola) Range from small-scale projects (Angola, Lesotho) to national programs (Namibia, Botswana, Tunisia, Egypt)

February 2002 SNA Presentation Harvard Successes A few schools in each country have workable computer labs School home pages Computer Use: – Teachers - keeping records of marks, preparing exercise sheets, contact with other teachers via , Internet to access information on subjects – Students - , working on projects, Internet to access information for projects – Principal - school administration records: database of students – Community members: training in basic computer skills Training programmes: teachers and learners

February 2002 SNA Presentation Harvard Challenges - mobilising resources – creating models that are workable and sustainable technologically, financially and educationally – setting technical and educational quality standards – informing policy on ICTs and education – monitoring and learning based on the effects of ICTs on education in Africa – develop and grow champions

February 2002 SNA Presentation Harvard About SchoolNet Africa – 1996: Information Society & Development African Information Society Spearheaded by UN Economic Commission for Africa – September 1999: SchoolNet Workshop 10 SchoolNets SchoolNet Africa Case Statement – November 1999: African Development Forum Endorsement of SchoolNet Africa

February 2002 SNA Presentation Harvard About SchoolNet Africa July 2000: School Networking in Africa Workshop, Okahandja Namibia July 2002: First Steering Committee formalised establishment of SNA 1 October established office in South Africa An African-led, African based continental instituton

February 2002 SNA Presentation Harvard VISION AND PROGRAM SchoolNet Africa’s vision is to empower the African child to be an active global participant through the effective use of ICTs in education SchoolNet Africa’s mission is to support national schoolnets by mobilising resources through effective partnerships and to promote sustainable use of ICTs by African learners and educators.

February 2002 SNA Presentation Harvard OPERATION DOT LEARN Affordable bandwidth for African Schools Connecting African Schools Building SchoolNet Champions An African Education Knowledge Warehouse ThinkQuest Africa Content and Curriculum Integration Researching ICTs for Education

February 2002 SNA Presentation Harvard Building SchoolNet Champions Senior Executive Program Accredited Course Partnership US University and African University Range of modules: – ICT and education policy – Organisational Development – Education and Technologies – Appropriate Technologies

February 2002 SNA Presentation Harvard Thank you for your attention Shafika Isaacs Executive Director SchoolNet Africa g.za