Transcript GeSCI
ICT in Education Inception, Mid-term plan & Priorities for Rwanda Senthil Kumar 17th June 2008 transforming education, empowering communities, promoting development Our Engagement with Rwanda • Request from Rwanda team during WSIS 2005 at Tunis • Due diligence done by GeSCI • MoU signed on 20th March 2007 • Engagement term for 18 months from 20th March 2007 • CPF in place since April 14, 2008 • Need to resign the MoU with defined deliverables on or before 20th September 2008 • The new MoU will be valid till 31st March 2010 Rwanda is a full partner country 2 Rwanda: Reality & Challenges Teacher student ratio of 1:74 in primary Primary: Grade 1-6 2.15 Million Children in 2370 schools 31,037 teachers Secondary: Grade 7-12 0.266 Million Children in 643 schools 12,103 teachers Teacher student ratio of 1:22 in secondary Trilingual system Kinya-rwanda / French / English 9.2 Million Population, 26,340 sq.km land area 12.4% land with forests Literacy level is 64.9%, GDP of USD 2.5 billion Annual GDP growth of 5-6% Net enrolment of 10% in secondary education and 1.7% in tertiary • 45.3% population is less than 15 years of age • Shortage of qualified Teachers • Shortage of printed books • Only 39% completes primary education Gender ratio is a concern at Tertiary level (girls to boys ratio of 0.4) Source of information from; http://www.mineduc.gov.rw 3 Statistics… Classes / Grades Total No. of Children Average no. of children Primary 1 539,038 227 Primary 2 443,389 187 Primary 3 375,567 158 Primary 4 306,858 129 Primary 5 346,884 146 Primary 6 138,694 59 Secondary 1 61,883 96 Secondary 2 59,050 92 Secondary 3 48,749 76 No. of primary school = 2370 and no. of secondary schools = 643 4 Important documents for reference… • Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) • Economic Development & Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) • Long Term Strategic Financial Frame Work (LTSFFW) • Curriculum Policy 2003 • NICI Plan 2006-2010 Science and technology in education is emerging as a key priority area 5 ICT is the buzz word in Rwanda… 6 Some efforts initiated by MoE along with MoSTSR & ICT… 7 Efforts initiated by MoE & MoSTSR & ICT • National Information & Communication Infrastructure Plan 2006-10 • Infrastructure (10 PCs /school) deployed in 299 secondary schools • Connectivity is being established – 83 schools connected so far • 3,000 teachers training in partnership with Microsoft • GIS pilot initiative started in 10 schools in partnership with ESRI • NePAD e- Schools initiative in 6 schools • OLPC pilot in one primary school • EMIS package is being developed • Dialogue initiated with many partners for “ICT in Education” • MoU signed with GeSCI The Educational Management Development is another key priority area 8 Internal organizations • Ministry of Education • Ministry of Science, Technology, Scientific Research and ICT • Rwanda Information Technology Authority • Kigali Institute of Education • National Curriculum Development Centre • Kigali Institute of Science and Technology • Regional Institute of ICT Training Centre • National University of Rwanda • Inspectorate • Examination Council • Rwanda Development Gateway • Others… Building a shared understanding is very crucial to achieve the common vision 9 Present realities 10 As of June 13, 2008… • Appropriate statistics lacks for proper planning • Caught up between ICT based education / IT education • Infrastructure deployed in Schools are not functioning effectively • Teachers are not using the computers (even trained teachers) • Electricity issues – some of the schools are given with DG • Due to high cost of electricity the infrastructure is not utilized • Not familiar with the term “Total Cost of Ownership” • Digital Learning Content – Does not exist • There is NO maintenance support for hardware - Problem between RCN and MoE. The issues are in the court • Therefore, Teacher have been trained for hardware maintenance! Continued… 11 As of June 13, 2008 …continued • Teachers are not familiar on how to integrate digital learning content in teacher and learning practices • Too many MoUs signed and nothing is synchronized • The internal departments work as silos • All the initiatives are completely dependent on donors • Not enough talent power to manage ICT in Education • Many teachers are NOT professional trained teachers • At the Min of Education, MoS & SG level, things looks positive but reality is different when we interact with layers below • NO work initiated on Monitoring & Evaluation • The EMIS package is getting into trouble… • Many more…you can go on! Complete overhaul in the Ministry at Senior Level - But the Country is in a hurry… 12 Positives… 13 Positives … • MoE and other internal organizations have tremendous respect for GeSCI and they take our suggestions seriously • Unlike earlier days, MoE is not signing MoU with everyone • The new team is dynamic and wanted to make difference • Donors are committed to support ICT in Education • USAID agreed to support to Education sector • The GEA partnership is shaping up well • Sincere effort is on for adding more talent, capacity building, procurement / creation of digital learning material, teacher professional development, technical support and M & E We need to stretch beyond advisory services… 14 Mid Term Plan till Dec 2008 15 Mid Term Plan – Till 2008 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Building a shared understanding among internal organizations Enable MoE to identify suitable partner for the holistic intervention Assist MoE to recruit suitable talent for ICT in Education efforts Capacity building on e-Learning to NCDC team Provide Content evaluation tool Assist them to identify suitable content Work with other partners and synchronize the efforts Awareness creation on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Awareness creation on critical success factors Teachers Professional Development – train the trainer Enrolling the key resource personnel into AKE and VWS Assist them to stream line Maintenance support EMIS package: Implementation guidance for country & district level Commence Monitoring & Evaluation in partnership with DCU Overall; Infrastructure maintenance, OLPC, Content, EMIS, TPD and Partnerships are priority areas 16 Priorities… 17 Priorities for next three months Infrastructure & connectivity: •Utilizing the existing infrastructure deployed in the schools Strategic implementation & project management: •Strategic implementation plan for OLPC roll out (20,000 units) •Setting up of steering committee and working groups ICTs in Teaching & Learning: • Training on content evaluation tool • Meetings with e-Learning content develoeprs • Follow up workshop (post AKE 2) Monitoring & Evaluation: • DCU visit to Rwanda and discussion with MoE / NUR Continued…18 Priorities for next three months Policy development: • First round meeting with task force, steering committee and identified stakeholders Partnerships: • Preparatory work for OLE and GEA Partnership Others: • Inception Report • Re-Signing of MoU • Additional talent power – from MoE • Re-constitution of Task force • Sorting out the problem between MoE and RCN • EMIS development plan: Agreeable to Agile Learning, MoE & DFID • Ongoing capacity building to the team • Fund mobilization (wherever possible) Need to accommodate MoE requests which arises time to time… 19 Support required from GeSCI… • Additional talent power to support CPF • Specialist support for; • e Learning capacity building • Teacher Professional Development • Awareness building on Total Cost of Ownership • Monitoring and Evaluation • Brining external consultants for capacity building • Networking with appropriate partners • Exposure visit for the MoE team (if required) • Professional development for self and other colleagues • Possible funding support for demonstration of an idea • Timely support from admin and finance – we do not have operational entity in Rwanda • Periodical visit by Regional Director 20 Potential partnerships… Technology Infrastructure and maintenance: • RCN, Cisco, AMD, Intel, OLPC and Local Private Sector Organization Digital Content: • Cyber Schools, Learnthings, OLE, Azim Premji Foundation, Microsoft, Cisco and Intel Teacher Development / Capacity Building: • Intel, Microsoft, RITC, KIE and GeSCI M&E: • DCU and NUR For Rwanda as well as GeSCI partnered countries 21 Challenges… Quality, quantity & Computer uptime and cost of electricity Maintenance support Infrastructure and connectivity cost Languages, trained teachers and building shared understanding Monitoring and Evaluation These challenges are universal for all developing countries 22 Thank you Your suggestions please … Let us leverage the potential of ICT to enhance the quality of learning… 23