eLearning in the School System

The Development of ICTE: A Massive Challenge after the Crisis in Côte d’Ivoire

Fatoumata Kone, Ministry of
Education Ivory Coast,
Dabakala

The most critical situations produce the most unexpected responses. In certain regions of Côte d’Ivoire, a “chain of solidarity” has been developed, both during and after the fighting, to allow children to continue to be educated and training to be kept up in its various forms. As an example, Fatoumata Kone describes the situation in the region of Dabakala. Today, she is striving to ensure that the joint efforts of the population and NGOs are not in vain – and that the next step is access to ICTE for everyone. This is a major challenge for a country, which during several years of crisis has seen its infrastructure destroyed and has been deprived of an educational system worthy of the name. But Fatoumata Kone lacks neither energy nor ideas.

Fatoumata Kone is a Pre-school and Primary Inspector in Dabakala in the north of Côte d’Ivoire and she is determined to meet the challenge of the development of ICT for education. She is currently carrying out a study to understand the needs of a specific region which could serve as a testing ground for development. This is the district of Dabakala. A centre of the former Ivorian rebellion, Dabakala chose to keep up the education of children during the crisis. Education survived thanks to the actions of certain NGOs and the help of the population which remained there, as well as voluntary teachers and some international bodies.

Ivory Coast © Wikipedia

Fatoumata Kone explains that the Ministry of National Education has not abandoned its policy of free schooling (started in 2000) in this region still suffering the after-effects of the war. According to Mrs Kone, ever since the start of the crisis until now, primary school children were always supplied with working kits and schoolbooks. Certain NGOs worked in the field of adult literacy, especially for women. Now a new phenomenon has arisen - the development of “community” schools at the initiative of the local community itself. In the area of Dabakala, there are now twelve community schools in different villages.

Voluntary teachers have also played a very important role in the survival of schooling in the region. They have regularly taught classes, for pitiful salaries. After the conflict, UNICEF carried out several campaigns to increase public awareness entitled “back to school”, aimed at achieving mass schooling for young girls, particularly in the areas formerly under siege. Save the Children, which works for the observance of children’s rights and protection, through its “educate for the future” programme, rehabilitated many schools and now gives training courses for the teachers in addition to other activities.

The NRC (Norwegian Refugee Council) is carrying out “transition” classes (passerelles). These classes accept only children from ten to thirteen years of age who have not had the chance to go to school, particularly because of displacement. At the end of a rapid training course lasting ten months, these children can rejoin the normal school curriculum. All the costs of kits and schoolbooks, the salaries and training of teachers, and other equipment for the classes are met by the NRC. In Dabakala, there are four transition classes. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has supported school canteens with food and contributed to opening new ones.
 
Thanks to these measures, schooling has been able to keep going in the Dabakala area. According to Mrs Kone, to extend these efforts ICTE must be developed now. Fatoumata Kone is convinced that those who have not had access to technology are being excluded, to use her phrase – they are the illiterates of our time. For this dedicated teacher, the conflicts have created more than enough exclusion; it is now time to create an education dynamic which goes in the opposite direction and especially through the use of ICTE. But where to start? The lack of teachers remains a major problem, like the lack of training as well as the lack of school buildings or adequate equipment. Just as an example, the Inspectorate was without any documentary resources until October 2007.

ICT’s are almost absent in the Pre-school and Primary Education area of Dabakala. So Fatoumata Kone’s struggle starts with her own “investment”. She is personally committed to encouraging the enthusiasm of the different stakeholders. She goes from village to village to tell parents of the virtues of ICT and she has started to buy the materials herself. In analysing the case of Dabakala which she knows so well, she aims to establish an ICTE post-conflict development model. Fatoumata Kone will present the results of her study in the framework of “eLearning Africa” and she intends to share her beliefs, her questions and the proposed solutions with the participants in the conference.

Fatoumata Kone will speak in the session “eLearning and Post-Conflict Situations”, Friday, May 29th, 2009, 13:30 – 15:00

May 6, 2009

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