THE ROLE OF ICT IN EDUCATION SECTOR

I have been reading a few articles and publication about the ICT policy formulation in Zimbabwe and the efforts being done by the Ministry of ICT in bridging the digital divide in Zimbabwe. I am a key follower of the ICT innovations and I must say I have been challenged as an ICT Specialist living abroad. I recently listened to Minister Biti articulating on the “New Zimbabwe” and he mentioned the efforts being done by the Government in fostering ICT innovations in Zimbabwe. We haven't seen the real implementation yet, but the fact that ideas and wishes are coming up from high offices is encouraging.

Surely a lot has been said about ICT and new ideas are been tabled, but the real answers are in provisioning, adoption and implementation. Yes, Government has a lot to do as far as policy formulation and making sure that the environment is conjunctive and sustainable for growth and stability of the ICT and other sectors, however its not all about government alone, its an issue for all of us as Zimbabweans. Lets ask our selves, what role can we play as individual citizens, private sector, public and NGOs in making sure that ICT revolution is a success in Zimbabwe.

Today I am going to blog about what I think ICT, Linux and Open Source can bring to our society when adopted early in our Education System. The president of Zimbabwe donated Computers in Schools around Zimbabwe a few years ago and this was met with mixed reactions, views and opinions among our people, without getting political, I think questions we should ask our selves is how can those opportunities be used to fully benefit our communities and schools rather that spending lots of negative energy on unsubstantiated facts/criticism.

Yes our major challenge in Zimbabwe is Electricity availableness and affordability and reliability of telecommunication infrastructure, human resource should never be the problem in Zimbabwe but it is a problem at the moment. In my next blogs I will talk about what I think should be done to address the HR issues. These challenges can be tackled head on. Solar energy is the best alternative to ZESA electricity. Telecommunication companies are rolling out slowly but surely, soon there will be competition and a price war and hopefully with the availability of sea cable(Seacom) prices will drop down. The Education Sector should not be left behind by all the changes tacking place.

With Linux some green computing technology can be adopted to reduce the causes and effects of environmental degradation. In the near future we shall blog about green computing and how Linux can improve the lives of people in developing countries.

IT IN EDUCATION STRATEGY

This is not just the responsibility of Government alone. We need to work harder to share our experiences and also learn from other countries success and failures. The Ministry of Education needs a strategy, As I write this blog I haven't verified with the Ministry of Education in Zimbabwe if there exist a working document of some sort with regards to IT in Education as a Strategy.

As I said earlier There are some unavoidable facts in modern Society; First, the ICT has been developing very rapidly nowadays. Therefore, in order to balance it, the whole educational system should be transformed and ICT should be incorporated into our education system and with globalization everything is centred around ICT these days hence the needy for adoption on ICT in Education in developing world.

THE ROLE OF ICT IN EDUCATION SECTOR

The role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the education sector plays an important part, especially in the process of bringing the technology into the education system. . Education sector can be the most effective sector to anticipate and eliminate the negative impact of ICT. Technology (internet) in another side can be the most effective way to increase the student’s knowledge.

According to an article published in the Inside Magazine Vol. 02 Juli 2008, The writer is the Headmaster of SMA Tarsisius II and the director of Sandlewood International English Course.

The followings are some of the the aims and objectives of ICT implementation in education:

1. To implement the principle of life-long learning / education.
2. to increase a variety of educational services and medium / method.
3. to promote equal opportunities to obtain education and information.
4. to develop a system of collecting and disseminating educational information.
5. to promote technology literacy of all citizens, especially for students.
6. to develop distance education with national contents.
7. to promote the culture of learning at school (development of learning skills, expansion of optional education, open source of education, etc.)

8. to support schools in sharing experience and information with others.

Taznet ICT Integrators are leaders in Information Technology Integration and Implementation in the ICT and Education Sector among others. We have several years of knowledge in Telecommunication and ICT and we specialise in LINUX and Open source technology to foster Economic and Social development of our community. Should you need proof of concept or SLA arrangements you may get in touch with us by email and one dedicated team players will get back to you and your Organisation will never be the same again

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