An eLearning Africa report on ICT in education has revealed that despite that despite ICT’s advantages in education, teachers, trainers and managers in Africa are reluctant deploy it in their day-to-day.
The report from a survey of 1,500 African education and ICT professionals will be launched today by the Ethiopian deputy prime minister and minister of ICT at the eLEarning Africa Conference centre in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, according to a news release to TechCabal.
The editors of the report, Harold Elletson and Annika Burgess, said the results were worrying. “Worryingly, despite the importance of ICT in education, there is insufficient awareness in many schools, colleges, institutions and government departments of the benefits it brings.”
An excerpt from the report stated that 57% of those surveyed by eLearning Africa said that educators in their own countries were still not sufficiently aware of the benefits of using ICT in education.
“Reluctance, was a major theme emerging from teachers and educators; many revealed that their attitude towards ICTs in education was not always shared throughout their institution.” the editors said.
Obstacles to ICT permeating the educational sector among teachers were attributed to cost of services and equipment, poor infrastructure and a lack of awareness about how best to use ICT for teaching and learning.
The report concludes that “raising the awareness and skills of teachers – and learners – is crucial for ICT integration to be successful.
