Bringing Computers to the Classroom in Africa
For two years, Microsoft and the Namibian government have been implementing a sustainable programme that puts technology to work for educators and students.
WINDHOEK, Namibia — 7 June 2005 — Education has always been a focal point for enabling economic and social development in Africa. Achieving universal primary education is, for example, one of the United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals — which identify the most urgent needs of the developing world. Particularly in rural Africa, schools often have only the most basic tools for teaching, and the digital age seems distant indeed.
As a tool for educators, information and communication technology (ICT) — computers, printers and software for teaching and learning — is as valuable as blackboards and textbooks. But, particularly in the developing world, the value of ICT in the classroom goes beyond that of a practical teaching aid.
The government of Namibia, which released its updated ICT Policy for Education this week, states that:
“The need to use new technologies to raise the quality and efficiency of education cannot be overemphasised. It is imperative that we expose our children, parents and teachers to ICT to improve the quality of education and technical proficiency of our human resources, thus leading to increased productivity and accelerated development. We must also prepare our citizens to adapt to the global economy and participate in electronic commerce.”
To this end, Namibia has been making considerable progress. Two years ago, the Namibian government entered into a joint project with Microsoft, called the African Pathfinder initiative, to help bring computer technology to schools and teaching curricula around the country. An ambitious, multi-faceted initiative, Pathfinder enables surplus computers to be obtained from developed regions and refurbished in developing regions for use in schools and community centres. This is not simply a programme for technology procurement and implementation, however. The programme also includes teacher training and educational software, and has led to complementary offshoots such as vocational training for technicians. Importantly, it covers all of the areas necessary for the programme to be effective in the short term and to persist and grow over time.
The surest mark of success came today, when Microsoft’s participation in the programme came to a close, and the company ceded administration of the Pathfinder programme to the Namibian government.
“What’s remarkable about Pathfinder is, first, that it’s a total solution, addressing issues such as training, tools and support,” says Sean Nicholson, industry solutions specialist for education and emerging markets at Microsoft, and the company’s project manager for the African Pathfinder initiative. “Second, we’ve looked at how to make it sustainable and scalable. It’s no problem to run a project in one or two schools. But how about a thousand schools, or ten thousand? How do you make sure that any project you do is still running next year?”
The African Pathfinder Initiative
The Pathfinder educational model was originally conceived by the Microsoft Education Solutions Group, which had been considering the use of ICT in education from the standpoint of the government policymaker or education authority. According to Nicholson, there was no complete guide that could help governments bring computers to classrooms in an affordable, effective and sustainable way. The Microsoft team, drawing on a broad field of expertise, developed the African Pathfinder framework, which addresses nine priorities: access, training, technical support, public/private partnerships, innovative software, learning communities, research, curriculum development and policy development. Without practical solutions for each of these priorities, a lasting impact is unattainable.
Namibia proved to be a good place to test the programme. Not only was the government developing its policy for ICT in education, the country of 1.8 million people comprises both developed regions with good infrastructure and isolated and poor rural regions. So Microsoft opened discussions with the Namibian parliament, and in 2004 an agreement was signed.
“As they’ve been producing the policy, everything we’ve been doing with Pathfinder is underpinning and enabling that policy to be carried out,” Nicholson says. “So to give you a specific example, they have said in the policy that teacher training is a top priority. And we’ve been putting in teacher training facilities and a curriculum. They’ve been saying they want to roll out computers. We’ve established a refurbishment centre so they can put computers into schools affordably. So the synchronisation is there. We took our model, listened to the government’s strategy and planning, and made sure we were aligned.”
Making a Difference for Teachers, Students, Communities
Thirteen schools, one for each of Namibia’s regions, were selected by the Parliament to participate in the pilot programme. These schools were considered “previously disadvantaged” schools — that is, neglected or negatively affected by the former political regime.
The Pathfinder schools all have computer labs that include a file server, 12 refurbished PCs, a printer, and a computer network. In Windhoek, the Namibian National Refurbishment Centre (NNRC) and the Windhoek Vocational Training Centre (WVTC) train local workers to recondition PCs for use in schools and community centres across the country at a nominal cost. Three computer labs have been installed in existing community centres — one for disabled people, one in a desert village and one in a shantytown area in Windhoek. And a curriculum has been developed to train Namibian teachers how to take advantage of computers as a tool for teaching. Two teacher-training workshops have been held to date, providing teachers basic computer skills and guidance for incorporating ICT into their lesson plans.
“The schools have all given very positive reports of the Pathfinder programme,” says Isabella Wellman, Director of the Office of the Speaker of the Namibian National Assembly. “In fact, some of them have already started to provide computer classes for the community. Teachers are using the new resource as a teaching instrument, although there’s still some training to be done. It has made a very positive impact.”
The most important aspect of the programme, Wellman adds, is the benefit it has for Namibian society in terms of building ICT skills not only in schools but also at community centres. Instead of looking at a computer as something that is daunting and unapproachable, she says, it’s been made simple for people to switch on a computer, type a letter, go to the internet, send e-mail or go to the Parliament website to communicate with their member of parliament, wherever they are.
“The programme has made people feel that they don’t need to be scared of computers,” Wellman says. “Kids can use it to do their school projects. And it has made the work for teachers so much easier — they can do research, create their lesson materials. For teachers it opens up a universe of information that they can use in their daily teaching.”
“There are a lot of challenges these teachers are dealing with,” says Namupa Nengola, Pathfinder project manager for the Namibian Education Technology Alliance (NETA), a coalition of NGOs that provides technology training at Pathfinder schools. “It’s not just the hardware, but it’s the language people are struggling with. But with the little these schools have, the computer labs make a lot of difference. We are noticing that attendance has improved. The kids are excited and want to go to the computer lab, so they want to go to school. So we’re already seeing the willingness of children to use the computers.”
Nicholson admits he was surprised that teachers also found the some of the learning tools such as the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopaedia to be so useful and relevant to their jobs, especially for areas such as the natural sciences and biology.
“There are schools now where the teachers draw up a work plan for the students for investigation,” he says. “The students go to Encarta to find the answers. These are schools that don’t have many textbooks — we’re seeing digital libraries replacing old-fashioned libraries. It’s making a considerable impact.”
Nengola also notes that the African Pathfinder initiative could have a positive impact on the shortage of competent teachers in rural schools. Because technology has become increasingly important in education, teachers want to work at schools where technology is available, so better-funded schools are luring the best teachers away from rural schools because of their richer teaching environment. Pathfinder removes this incentive for teachers to relocate.
“Another benefit is simply the confidence and enthusiasm,” Nicholson says. “When you put a computer lab in a school, teachers as well as students feel they are part of society in a sense. They’re proud.”
What’s Next for the African Pathfinder Initiative?
Following on from Pathfinder’s success in Namibia, parts of the initiative will be rolled out in other countries. For example, in Kenya Microsoft is working with the government and other partners to create a Digital Pipeline Centre for computer refurbishment. Likewise, representatives from the government of Botswana have visited the centre in Namibia, and wish to produce a similar facility. And teacher-training materials created under Pathfinder are now being used in Angola, Ghana and Uganda.
“In one case, the government wants to put computers into every secondary school in their country,” Nicholson says. “That’s the level we’ve moved up to with Pathfinder. We’re talking about countries and regional areas, not just one or two schools. We now have the ability to scale to an entire country.”
In Namibia, the Parliament is producing a report on Pathfinder, which will be available to other countries. Microsoft is also producing a white paper that captures the knowledge gained from its involvement in the African Pathfinder initiative, and Nicholson hopes that the valuable lessons will be shared widely.
“With so many social projects around the world — the project runs, it finishes and it dies,” Nicholson says. “Here in Namibia, we have local companies that the Ministry of Education is using to put computer solutions into schools, using local trainers, curricula and labs we’ve helped them develop. This country has an ICT strategy, the government is putting money in, and a group of people — most of them Namibians — are doing this work. So yes, I believe Pathfinder has legs and is sustainable in Namibia. The initiative will continue to change and develop here, but it’s not our project anymore, and that is precisely the point.”
