Information Communication Technology in Schools in African Countries and Factors that Promote Digital Divide

Abstract

Although globalization tends to paint a fascinating picture of the world where all people are aided by modern-day communication technologies to integrate into the global information village, the digital divide has distorted what intended to follow as a sequence across all regions of the developed and underdeveloped world. Nonetheless, the worldwide recognition and acceptance of the importance of ICT in championing development across different works live and uniting all peoples into one global community has not received any known objections. The worldwide attestation to the relevance of ICT in permeating, championing, and innovating human and material resources cannot find institutional usefulness outside the boundaries of the education system. If schools in African countries are designed like their Western counterparts to tap from the level of information flow orchestrated by ICT, the pursuit of an information rich society where knowledge is placed within the reach of every citizen will be realizable. The position of the Internet in the free flow and dissemination of information depends on the realization of ICT infrastructure. The inevitability of ICT mediation in education and schools has given rise to the need to equip schools with computers and enable free internet access for members of the school community. The provision of ICT will serve a gateway to efficient and effective education systems anchored in research findings that ‘technology-mediated learning is advantageous to students, teachers, and schools.’ Current evidence shows African countries to be on the wrong side of digital diffusion as their schools and pupils are still confronted by the digital divide. Despite a growing integration of communities with mobile network technologies, a digital divide still cuts across schools in African countries, equally damaging the reputation of the continent which has not been able to direct its human and material resources where it matters. The inability of the countries of Africa to meaningfully integrate ICT into school curriculum increases the worries of digital divide, which has created a demarcation between education standards in Africa and developed countries. It identifies factors that promote digital divides in African schools to hang on human and material capacities. These two factors happen to be manmade for lack of due diligence in the race for information freedom. African countries need to modernize its education pedagogy to accommodate ICT. For that to happen, countries have to come up with alternative ideas capable of circumventing the high cost of computers and broadband internet access to bridge the digital divide in schools. The options that can solve ICT problems in schools in African countries hinges on types of digital technology utilized by students as mechanisms for bridging the digital divide. Hence, ICT in the 21^st century holds education to ransom with pedagogy anchored on technology as the only solution. Therefore, digital diffusion in all schools merits global concern and the use of every possible methodology as a welcome initiative.

Keywords: Information Communication Technology, Digital Divide, Digital Inclusion, Digital Diffusion, Internet Access