Literacy/Education Development Interview -Tanzania Beyond Tomorrow Program, Ministry of Education, Tanzania
The Schools Project
In my quest to look for innovation in both international educational delivery and its international educational technology, my gaze soon fell upon Tanzania; while in Cape Town, I heard through the grapevine at UCT that there was a big educational technology conference taking place in Dar Es Salaam in June, and though I knew I would not make it here in time, I knew that some of the residual effects would still be lingering by the time I finally did make it back to Tanzania. In conducting my background research, my interest fell upon two projects, both spearheaded by a joint government-private partnership that has taken effect in most multilateral dealings. These two are the BridgeIT Project, a collaboration with the Nokia Educational Delivery System, and the Tanzania Beyond Tomorrow Platform, which sets out the strategic goals for the nation's educational system moving into the 21st and beyond. I was able to spend a couple of hours at the Ministry of Education in Dar Es Salaam with Mr. Muxweila Kalinga, who has been tasked with spearheading the Ministry of Education's educational technology drive to both modernize teaching approaches and classroom facilities, and thus, close the digital divide for this fast-growing East African nation, which aims to be a middle income country through its Vision 2025 Project, a large focus of which lies on the education sector. We were able to talk both about ICT initiatives in the schools, and the vast challenge that lies in their coordination and implementation at the national level.
Could you please give me a quick background of the program, ie: the needs it is trying to meet, and how it was started, and its relevant technological focuses?
The Tanzania Beyond Tomorrow Project was started as a project for secondary education with the main aim of using ICT (Information Technology) to alleviate the problem of the shortage of teachers in science, math, and, to a lesser degree, English. Over the years it has been shown that the performance in these areas is very low compared with the arts and humanities. The problem was compounded by the mushrooming population of the secondary schools when universal access was granted for all in Tanzania. The country went from 1800 schools in 2006 to doubling to 3600 schools all of the sudden. It is easy to construct buildings and equip them with materials, but in training teachers, this is much more difficult. Neither do you find already trained teachers to staff the schools when you quickly double the national enrollment. The existing shortage was tremendously amplified by the upsurge in schools. ICT appeared to be one of the viable solutions to this huge problem, especially when taking into account the modern technology available that works with distance teaching and bringing learning even to remote areas with no electricity using other means. So, the project was prompted by the shortage of teachers, but also not without forgetting the central role of the Ministry to get the Tanzanian society to close the digital divide. The teacher shortage was just a temporary challenge, but the digital divide need is there regardless.
And the actual platform that has been created under the name Tanzania Beyond Tomorrow. What does this actually encompass and set out to do in closing this digital divide?
So now, there are many secondary schools with many partners in developing ICT programs, so in different schools and colleges there are different initiatives scattered all over. This has created a big problem and discrepancies in the scattered, uncoordinated initiatives that have taken hold. These ICT initiatives all need to be recognized and connected through the Ministry of Education. Some people, for instance, would come and offer support for a specific school, without a specific solution in mind. Now, under this platform that coordinates the activities on a national level, the Ministry is able to offer a specific solution. This solution will follow three steps: First, to take stock of what we have. Two, to create a level ground where different partners and prospective donors could find a way to assist in the best possible way, and third, to create conducive solutions for developers to operate in partnership with the government and other institutions.
Where do the teachers fit into this plan?
Teachers here are trained at teacher colleges and universities. They must have the capacity to coordinate and facilitate ICT for the learners. Pre-primary, primary, secondary, teacher education, and adult and non-formal education all have to be addressed with the solutions here. The focus should be on all levels of education, starting with the basic education.
Can you touch on some of the specific programs and initiatives falling under the TBT platform?
The program is embracing many different projects that already exist, and is working to streamline them under the umbrella of TBT. Some of the programs are:
Ncomputing-(yet to engage)-in this new project, a central computer in the classroom will be used to run more than 5 computer moniters that are deployed for the students; this cuts the cost of technology and computer deployment and creates more ease with streamlining the lessons.
NoPC Project-currently being piloted in the secondary schools, with the private partner beingAirtel. This is a London based program that has recently expanded from 10 to 50 schools. And has been working with teacher colleges which will be attached to secondary schools so both levels of training can be addressed at the same time. The focus is to try the technology of noPC, which is using one PC to operate like a server to run multiple moniters in a classroom. So, in a class of 25 students, instead of needing 25 computers, you only need 5 computers instead. The basic structure is 5 moniters to one PC.
BridgeIT-working with Nokia, Pearson, and the International Youth Foundation to deliver educational videos via Nokia handsets and the Vodacom mobile phone network to both urban and rural school classrooms. (I will be speaking with the IYF this week on the rollout of this specific program).
YesICan- Mp3 Programs for adult rural education and special needs education, in its pilot phase.
These are just the programs being coordinated within the ministry. There are also other private initiatives taking place as well, such as
Powering Potential (NY Based)- which is developing 17watt computing systems here in Tanzania, which being low-power computing initiatives, can use solar equipment to run the computing systems
off the grid in the rural areas of the nation.
Tell me about how you are helping to manage all of these different initiatives.
So, this TBT is a coordinating initiative that can match international donors and school, as well as the ICT solutions with the issues that exist. Once the donors become familiar with a specific program, their offers for collaboration will be much more effective. There has been a small laboratory established by the Ministry to look at 4 scenarios that shape the situation in the country:
1-no power grid, no internet
2-power, no internet
3-both provided, internet and power
4-full access to technology
In situation 4, with full access to technology, how has the content been developed to meet the needs? We can compare the situation to some of the OLPC initiatives and the Sugar Software approaches being launched in countries such as Rwanda to really match the software being developed with the needs of the school systems at the national and more local levels.
E-content development here has been very difficult. The funding has been too limited to start building the capacity of the curriculum developers to collaborate effectively with the solution developers. Both are critical to be effective. The IT experts need to work with the curriculum teams to create a package to use for the roll out; however, this is just about to begin. Cisco, Intel, and others are interested in this, however, the funds are lacking, which has been difficult for the roll out. Other companies such as EduComp from India and Accenture from the states are partners as well, but the funding right now is the issue in the actual launch. In this facet, BridgeIT is the most promising now, as the content has already been developed and the solution is turnkey. Using a mobile phone and linking to a TV monitor is an excellent idea. In the bush, there are people watching television with generators and a lot of them have mobile phones. So, there is a lot of familiarity with the technology, and thus, a lot of potential with this program. People share a comfort with the technology, so its implementation can be much smoother. The is a strategic advantage.
Where do you see these programs in 5 years? 10 Years?
In 10 years, TBT Project will have to change, when you consider the technology is always changing. Teacher training and competence will hopefully be solved. The focus will have to shift to in-service training to keep the teachers as updated as possible and to keep pace with what is changing. The training center and data centers will be crucial to this. In the first 5 years these two centers will need to be established to train support staff like the technicians needed to oversee the ICT networks, and the teachers who can be specialized in developing e-Content. At least every teacher will have a laptop, or some access to connectivity. The Digital Divide needs to be narrowed. The knowledge and skills need to be in place to implement the new technologies that are being developed-this platform will be used to adapt new technology. The fear is a big problem as well, a big challenge. Technology has created a phobia as well. Training the new generation to be comfortable with the new technologies will be critical. The challenge is creating comfort with technology for both teachers, students, and members of the government to see the advantages og using technology to progress. The solution developers are out there working on the solutions-if they feel comfortable coming in, seeing the government as a tool for collaboration, it will create a much more efficient network for the nation to progress. Solution developers can then target the most needy populations with their designs. When Intel or Cisco comes in, the doors need to be opened to work with them. They can then design appropriate technologies or adapt current technologies to meet the needs. There is a lot of opportunities that should be in the place of challenges. Challenges should excite us so that they can be met with solutions.
The wheel does not need to be reinvented!
What resources are currently most needed to close the digital divide here in Tanzania?
Financial resources are the most needed; with funds, everything can be procured. There are currently 34 government teacher training colleges that are all connected through a shared Intra/Internet. The hub is in Morogoro currently; the private sector is also involved with this. Teacher training is focused on using ICT in their teaching. As far as teacher training is concerned, if the teacher is not familiar with technology, they cannot be involved with all of the initiatives being proposed. If a teacher is not trained in technology, they will never be a partner. The teachers are being given basic training to run things such as NoPC, but it is still a big need that requires a systematic plan to actually have the confidence to participate in research and development with these programs as well. The teachers should be a big partner in this.
