ICT development is Sub Saharan African countries continues to be hampered by poor planning. Up to now, some countries do not have National ICT policies and little is being done to address this problem. The political authorities, who generally are not ICT savvy, are responsible for all this mess. A very sad development in Namibia has prompted me to make this post.
The recent issue of Balancing Act reports that the bulk of a N$9 million consignment of computer equipment bought by the country’s Ministry of Education early last year for distribution to 40 schools has not yet reached its intended destinations.These computers have been kept in storage at the Ministry’s recently established National Education Technology Service and Support Centre (Netts) in Windhoek because of lack of proper infrastructure at the most schools that had been identified. Many of these schools do not have the necessary power points. There is also a concern about the lack of security at some of the schools.
One wonders why a whole government ministry failed to make proper plans before buying these computers. They should have made sure that the infrastructure at the intended schools is up to scratch before buying these computers. The other issue that I would like to ask the ministry officials to address is the issue of computer teachers. Do they have enough of them for each one of these identified schools? The danger is that these computers will experience a second phase of rotting right at the schools simply because there is no computer teacher around. There might be a need for some of the teachers, especially those who teach Science subjects, to undergo some intensive computer training. What about computer books for students? Are they available? These are some of the issues that came up in mind as I was writing this post but there could be a dozen other issues which the folks in Namibia’s Ministry of Education have to consider for the effective deployment and proper use of these computers. I hope the Namibian predicament will serve as a lesson for other countries in the region. Finally, I wish the Namibian government all the best in this project.
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The way we plan in Africa boggles the mind, if it is planning at all!! In another society such miscalculation would mean resignation by the reponsible official…but not in Africa with its ‘mpando onona’ syndrome…nobody wants to be graceful to take the blame and step down.
@Allan: The first two URLs cannot be retrieved.The other site is alright.
@Joe Mlenga:Such incompetent officials, in most cases, are shielded by the political machinery of our countries.Amakhala ndi owateteza kumtunda (They have people who protect them in higher offices).Very bad:(
I hate to say this but where I live (yes it’s America) there is the same incompetence, and the same corruption.
It is rampant here from the highest office in our land , on down to the local dog catcher.
There has got to be a better way to make this a better world. Tommy
there has always been corruption and id bet there will always be, so mine as well get used to it
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that is horrible. the fact they would do that. corruption…go figure
horrible… just horrible.
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Yeah – that is how corruption in other countries can affect more than their residents…
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