Educationists hail open source

There is a growing belief that the wide-ranging benefits of ICT can be delivered to Africa's tertiary education sector only through the strategic adoption of open standards, free and open source software, and open content.

This is according to Bob Day, spokesman for the Unesco-sponsored Expert Group Meeting on Developing the e-Campus Model for Africa, to be held next week.

The meeting, to be held from 9 to 11 November, is to be attended by 35 local and international delegates representing the tertiary education sector in eight African countries.

Other representatives are from Finland, the World Bank, Nepad and various donor organisations including the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa and the International Development Research Centre.

“We'll discuss the role of Africa's tertiary education sector in the transformation of the continent's education systems to promote systemic socioeconomic development,” Day says.

“In addition, we'll identify the appropriate use of ICTs to alleviate poverty and eradicate exclusion from the global network society, the so-called Fourth World.”

Day has been working on the Pan African e-Campus project with Unesco since 2002.

“Africa has yet to experience the true, wide-ranging benefits that ICT can bring throughout society,” he says. “Most large African institutions, including educational institutions, are importers of developed-world ICTs, which have negligible impact on the exclusion and poverty of most African people.

“ICTs are only just being introduced to some via multipurpose community centres, school connectivity projects and similar initiatives.”

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