African Ministerial Forum on ICT Integration in Education and Training

The Conference was attended by over 250 participants from Africa and other regions of the world, with more than 20 African ministers present. Education and training ministers from Angola, Djibouti, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal and Uganda spoke during plenary sessions of the Forum.

World renowned scientists and other experts in education, science and technology also took part in the conference. To this end, African education ministers are now expected to present strong ICT policies on ICT to accelerate their education and training systems in order to boost the continent’s competitiveness in the world and to ensure its economies continue to grow. 

One central recommendation from the forum was that all African countries should have a national policy on how to introduce ICT at all levels of education, including the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. The use of ICT can considerably ease the formidable challenges faced by African education and training systems. The challenges are many. More than 30 million African children of primary school age not attending school and Africa needs another million teachers. Africa’s “marginalized populations” must  also benefit from ICT in education. Women and girls do not always have access to education, and other excluded groups include people in remote parts of the continent, children working in agriculture, orphans, the disabled and people affected by HIV and AIDS. . Without ICT in education and training, Africa riskes falling behind the rest of the world, despite its current high levels of economic growth, due to increasing globalization in science, technology and media. Africa must, therefore, invest in its human capital. 

The conference also called on the private sector and development agencies to be involved in the process, particularly through public-private partnerships. Integration of ICT into education and training should not just be the state’s responsibility.

ADEA’s Chair, Mr. Dzingai Mutumbuka, signed two MoUs with Microsoft and Intel, which are intended to frame a collaborative scheme to advance the use of ICTs in education and training.

The forum was co-organized by ADEA, the African Development Bank (AfDB), UNESCO, the Organisation Internationale de la francophonie (OIF) and Intel, under the auspices of the Tunisian government through its Ministry of Education.

For more information, please visit the 1st ICT Forum website at http://africaictedu.adeanet.org/2013