African Govts to Start Using Telephones, Computers to Enhance Education

APA-Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) Several African governments have turned to mobile telephones and computers to mitigate the effects of teacher shortage they are facing, APA learns here Saturday.

Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia have started ICT projects involving mobile telephone messaging and computer-generated classrooms for both primary and secondary schools.

About 200 primary schools will benefit from TanzaniaÃ's programme to be launched early in October, Education and Vocational Training minister Professor Jumanne Mughembe told APA Saturday in an interview, adding that it will be rolled out mainly in districts that face acute teacher shortages.

"This IT project will also be using projectors, which would be operated from one control center manned by a few instructors in a bid to reach many students," he stressed.

Tanzania is currently facing a shortfall of more than 40,000 teachers. The minister said the initiative would start as a pilot project before being rolled out to other needy schools. He said 200 primary schools would benefit from the project.

Across Africa, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has eased the shift in teaching methodology with its $180 computers. Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda and South Africa have all ordered the laptops from OLPC, with the aim of distributing a laptop to each student. Learning materials will be posted regularly to a website, which students will then access through their laptops.

Initiated by the New Partnership for AfricaÃ's Development (NEPAD), such e-learning programmes are part of a consolidated plan of action aimed at enhancing knowledge sharing through the application, adaptation and usage of ICT in education.

NEPADÃ's e-Africa Commission - based in Johannesburg, South Africa has been chartered to develop the continentÃ's ICT infrastructure. The programme is set to equip approximately 16,000 African schools with computers and Internet connections by 2015.

Posted to the site on 2nd August 2008