2.+About+the+e-Schools+Initiative

=The NEPAD E-Schools Initiative= =media type="custom" key="4527742"= (Video by brettar1, [] NEPAD, an initiative of the African Union, stands for the New Plan for African Development and is quite momentous in its scope and vision for the continent. It has 16 participating countries and involvement from an incredibly wide range of stakeholders, both public and private. NEPAD is not solely an education initiative, it is much more comprehensive, also encompassing health, infrastructure and agriculture.

The E-schools Initiative is a long-term project that recognises the incredible potential of digital technologies to provide transformative educational opportunities to schools and students that are presently, by world standards, severely under-resourced. The E-Schools Initiative seeks to provide technology and training to around 600,000 schools across Africa over ten years. NEPAD, through the e-Africa Commission (eAC), plans, coordinates and sets standards at the continental level, while the actual implementation of the Initiative is carried by individual countries working with consortia composed of private commercial companies (LESOTHO).

//Without disregarding the basic needs of secondary education in Africa, such as building more classrooms, there is growing evidence that ICTs may be the only feasible and economically sound means of expanding access to and improving the quality of secondary education, both in Africa and the rest of SSA.// (Isaacs, in Evoh, 2007, np)

The goals are fivefold: 1. to provide ICT skills to young Africans so they can participate in the information society and knowledge economy;

2. focus on health literacy among African students;

3. to give teachers ICT skills that will benefit teaching and learning;

4. to encourage efficient school management through the provision of ICTs to school managers;

5. establish 'health points' in each school to educate students, parents, families and the community about health related issues. (The NEPAD E-school Initiative, in Evoh 2007)

These goals already suggest Fullan and Stiegelbauer's (1991) stakeholders: students, teachers, school managers and communities. We will explore this in more detail elsewhere in this investigation.

The Demonstration Project
The Demonstration Project began in 2005, aiming to establish 96 secondary schools, six in each of the 16 participating countries, impacting around 150,000 teachers and learners across the continent (Evoh, 2007). The purpose of the Demonstration Project was to allow a variety of approaches to the introduction of technology to be trialled across the continent, depending on the approach of the particular private sector-led consortium operating in that region. The Demo allowed non-participants to look on and see the benefits, and also for various stakeholders to see what was working and what wasn't working, and apply that knowledge to the wider roll-out of the Initiative. Evoh (2007) states that the concept of the Demo Project is that of a learning community in which the various stakeholders both learn and contribute to the diffusion of ICTs in education in Africa. Evoh cites the NEPAD Dialog (2004) as stating these goals for the Demonstration Project:

1. Determining typical e-school scenarios and requirements in various circumstances in Africa; 2. Highlighting the challenges inherent in the large-scale implementation of e-school programs; 3. Monitoring the effectiveness of multi-country, multi-stakeholder partnership; 4. Determining 'best practice’ and working models for the large-scale implementation of e-school; 5. Demonstrating the benefits of the envisaged satellite-based network; and 6. Demonstrating the benefits of ICTs in African schools

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//The NEPAD e-school initiative marks the first time that African governments, the private sector, foundations, development agencies and civil society organizations have come together for a common ICT project in education, developed and driven by Africans and for Africa (Chasia, 2004).// (Evoh 2007, np)