India Offers Zambia a Hand in eLearning

Zambia and India signed an agreement in September that will see India fund Zambian training centres to train researchers and the public in information and communication technology (ICT) skills. Zambia needed to embrace science and technology to develop economically, said Peter Daka, the Zambian Minister of Science and Technology. The Zambian government will provide the local infrastructure and India will provide 300 million USD for computers and servers, as well as 100,000 USD toward operating the centres. Besides researchers and science students, the centres will also provide free computer training to ordinary Zambians who could not otherwise afford it.

India could be called a winner in the recent technological development. Establishing the training centres would similarly empower Zambian researchers, science students and young people with science and technology skills, both governments agreed. The country still struggles with disadvantages such as the high cost of Internet connections due to the lack of a telecom infrastructure, power cuts in electricity and also poverty. To tackle these issues, the Zambian government has now taken the lead in promoting ICTs in education by partnering with the donor community to push the development of eLearning programmes and infrastructure forward.

Zambia’s First Major eLearning Conference

Offering access to ICT technologies and ICT literacy is an important contribution, especially to the development of previously excluded communities as it will enable them to participate in economic, social and political spheres, OneWorld Africa Director Pricilla Jere is convinced. She was amongst the 180 government representatives, education experts and stakeholders of ICT in education and training who gathered at eLearning Zambia, the first national meeting of its type, held in Lusaka in March 2007.

For Jere, ICTs offer the most effective way to access knowledge. “Women’s empowerment is building the ability and skills of women to understand those actions and issues in the external environment which influence them and also to give them a voice.”

She also mentioned Zambia’s need to focus on cheaper technologies that women can afford, so investment in ICT and rural development was crucial. Regarding policy, it should be clear that women must not only be considered in the ICT agenda - they must be actively involved in setting that agenda.

Another speaker at eLearning Zambia, Ms. Rose Banda, former Zambian Deputy Minister, addressed the shortage of teachers and lecturers in Zambia’s institutions of learning. “There are teacher and lecturer shortages at all levels of education. The shortages, especially in rural schools, are a glaring reality. In some instances, the situation is such that one teacher single-handily attends to several grades, which overburdens the teacher, therefore affecting output and productivity,” said Ms. Banda.

A Call for Action

University of Zambia Prof. Thomson Sinkala said that eLearning was possible in Zambia. “Let us act now. If we don’t make a difference with the knowledge and tools at our disposal, we don’t matter to ourselves and our future generation”, he said.

Learning through radio and television are the most popular forms of using technology in education in Zambia, according to Sinkala. Radio was mainly used for instructional purposes and is common at the basic education level. Interactive radio instruction and television are used widely in non-formal and informal educational. There are, for example, weekly broadcasts of health, nutrition, gender and agricultural programmes delivered by government and quasi-government institutions.

Local content remains an issue, though not only at the University of Zambia (UNZA). eLearning content is often offered by institutions from outside Zambia.

Another obstacle to eLearning in the country has been people’s attitude to this form of learning. Some people are generally resistant to change, and with eLearning being a new form of delivering education, it has not been easily accepted as an alternative way of learning. However, it is a fact that technology-enhanced learning can produce a fundamental change in Zambia’s education system by providing alternative ways of learning- from "school-house-based" models to various forms of "network-based" models. However, many issues have to be taken into consideration before Zambia can fully embrace eLearning as a form of delivering education.

Public-Private Partnerships Needed

At the conference, the role of private institutions in Zambia was seen as a solution to help address the need to expand ICT access to rural communities. Firms are looking for advertising opportunities in emerging markets, and thus have come up with various marketing approaches whereby they also fulfil their corporate social responsibilities and gain public goodwill. They have therefore been engaged in rural projects for innovative rural telecommunications delivery models. They have also been seen working with new partners such as individual entrepreneurs to deliver new products and services.

Government as the Leader

The national policy frameworks provide a common understanding in regard to direction and enhance development opportunities, but there are challenges that must be considered, stated Moses Mwale, member of the committee that organised eLearing Zambia.

He urged Zambians to focus on what they want to see in the development process and set priorities as this was a chance to include issues that concern the people in education. He said it was necessary to promote and to understand the issues of ICT advocacy and identify the change agents, which would include teachers and lecturers, to be part of the common goal and drive what is thought to be important, such as eLearning.

The Future Holds Promise

Viewed in general, Zambia has taken major strides this year towards establishing a vigorous eLearning effort. Follow-up activities are planned and it appears that the country’s education sector is well on its way to joining the world eLearning community.

By Brenda Zulu

Brenda Zulu is a freelance journalist and blogger based in Zambia. She is also a correspondent for Highway Africa News Agency (HANA).

November 14, 2007

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