Comparison on National Policies of ICT in Education in Kenya and the United Kingdom - Research Paper Example

Kenya and United Kingdom: A comparison on National Policies of ICT in Education.  Introduction Emergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) had opened up several potentialities in the field of education. Though even a few years back the use of ICT was only felt while undergoing online education but these days it has become a permanent resource in almost all versions of educative models. However, the actual impact of ICT in education can be better felt only when there is comprehension of its dogmatic function to enable learning. 21st century has already seen teens owning skill-sets to suitably use the technologies and further incorporate them thoroughly in their daily use. Researches have shown that the kids are the better adopter of technological advancements in their daily activities compared to most of the adults. (Srinivasan, 2009) Nevertheless, this particular paper draws attention on a comparative analysis on the national policies adopted for ICT in education in Kenya and UK.  Background and status of ICT policy framework in Kenya It was back in 1980s that the developed nations were troubleshooting their basic problems so as to implement or integrate ICT in the various sections of education. But unlike the developed countries Kenya has started to focus on ICT off late. It is very recently that the country has adopted specific measures to implement integration of ICT in the field of education. The structure is very much on a small-scale. The progress made as of now is due to the efforts on wide and varied range at different levels irrespective of socio-economic conditions of the individual countries and regions. The impact of ICT on education is inconclusive. Various observation reports developments in ICT results in the expansion of knowledge, improved outcomes in examinations, improved communication process and efficiency in technology and also decentralization in the educational service delivery. ICT includes the various types of technologies. It comprises of the computers, telecommunication and audio-visual systems. Like other nations Kenya too has limited ICT infrastructure that consists of the telephone lines, fixed mobile (cellular), Internet Service Providers (ISPs), cyber cafes, broadcasting stations, etc. (National Information and Communication Technology (ICT), 2006)  Background and status of ICT policy framework in UK UK has a different story altogether. Unlike Kenya, UK is much more enhanced and equipped with the latest technological advancements. (Loveless, 2003) Computers were first introduced in 1979 in the schools. In a survey by the Department of Education and Science (DES) in 1990, it revealed that modems were already in use among various secondary schools for accessing the mainframe computers. It was by 1989 that scientist Tim Berners-Lee of European Laboratory first proposed the World Wide Web Project. By the period of 1999 more than 150 users were already enrolled as internet users and more than 800 million web pages were available for accessing. It was by 2001 that the figure surpassed the 500 mark of total users and reached to 513. ICT schools in UK developed rapidly with gradual and effective development in the curriculum, networking, software, and teachers. It was during this period that the Ministry began to measure the developments and other countries too followed the concept. Japan and Netherlands brought about a change in its pattern of education. (Aston, 2001), (Thomas, E., 2002) and (Somekh, 2007) Education ICT in the UK As ICT has become more and more prominent among the educational institutions hence various agencies including the institutions have been striving hard to implement the use of ICT to improve learning and quality teaching. Therefore expenditures on ICT in the UK shall continue to thrive. With a growth rate of 4% CAGR, this fiscal have seen expenditures to about ₤2.5 billion and is expected to reach at a point of ₤2.9 billion by the end of 2011/12. If we consider the economic downturn in recent times a CAGR of 4% is relatively higher. In the UK, several programmes initiated by the government mainly boost expenditures on ICT. Two major programmes includes: Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and Primary Capital Programme (PCP). (Education ICT in the UK public sector to 2012, 2008) The BSF is the largest ever investment program that tries to focus on building schools. It renews and rebuilds almost each and every secondary school in the UK. It is a systematic approach towards rebuilding the teaching and learning process systems for all the staffs and students of the secondary schools. It is widely supported almost by all domains within the economy including the Prime Minister, to keep on track its aims and objectives and also observes funding. The Ministers at different levels have laid emphasis on the review of its processes on a regular basis. Altogether BSF have been trying to focus on transformation of several factors relating to education, raising achievement levels, improvement of teaching and learning environment and finally providing the community with renewed schools. (Revised National Programme for BSF, 2009) and (Abbott, 2001) Primary Capital Programme aims to create primary schools equipped with 21st century technology. The Chancellor in the 2005 Budget Statement first announced it. Like BSF, PCP is also looking forward in renewing the buildings of primary schools. The programme includes capital investment of ₤1.9 billion for 2008-11. The baseline for expenditure in each of these years is expected to be around ₤500 million. In the process, the programme is taking along the local authorities too. They were asked to prepare strategies that support change. It is basically known as Primary Strategy for Change (PSC). This would indirectly help the investors to get an overview of how investments support transformation. (Introduction, 2008) and (Somekh, 2007) Government’s Outlook towards ICT in education in Kenya Off late Kenya has made a remarkable development in the of ICT policy framework and in its strategic implementation. The implementation had resulted into measurable outputs and within stipulated time frames. The officials, the stakeholders and a dedicated leadership from office of Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Education have duly supported this process of development. In January 2006, Kenya adopted National TCT Policy that targets to improve living standards in Kenya. It also aims to provide the people with the accessibility, manageability, efficiency, authenticity and availability of the various ICT services. There have been facilities provided by the government in terms of information technology, broadcasting, telecommunications and postal services. (Kenya’s Information and Communications technology sector, 2005) But it is largely due to the information technology, which makes the difference between ICT and education. The government has also forwarded a helping hand towards the use of ICT in schools, colleges, universities and various other educational institutes in order to improve the quality of methodical teaching and learning. It also looks to facilitate public-private ventures in order to transport resources to support the initiatives taken for e-learning. There are also promotional developments taking place for an integrated curriculum along with promotion of distance learning and conducting of virtual classroom activities basically in the higher educational spheres and training. The government plans to initiate the development of center for excellence, provide infrastructure for disseminating the knowledge and skills based on e-learning platforms. Its main motive is to make it affordable that could cater the needs of primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. It looks to create awareness among institutions of the opportunities that are offered by ICT. These institutions can also share resources among themselves. (Gorard, Selwyn, Madden and Furlong, 2002) and (Fallows, S. and Bhanot, R., 2005) The opportunities of e-based learning have been utilized in the various educational programs that indirectly facilitate export. The government also looks to integrate the e-learning resources with the other resources that already exist. The National ICT Policy by the help of Ministry of Education formulated the Kenya Education Sector Program in the year 2005 that looks to develop sector policies in the field of e-learning. The strategic tools for implementing ICT policy includes – the policies resorted to the educational system, digital equipment, connectivity and infrastructure for network, access and equity, support and maintenance, closely following the emergence of technologies, digital content, training process and finally research and development. (Andrews, R., 2004) Various agencies also favor the developmental activities in the country, like the Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies (SAGAs) of the ministry, the Network Initiative for Computers in Education (NICE) - a consortium of NGOs associated with ICT in the educational sector, single body NGOs required to meet the criteria specified, civil society organizations and academia or individuals experienced in handling ICT projects. One of the most important factors that add to the implementation strategy is the Kenya ICT Trust Bond. Incorporated in 2005, it aims at leading various initiatives for ICT in education. The trust has opened up free memberships to both public and private sectors including ministries, government institutions, donor partners, civil society, academic and various other educational institutions. (Farrell, 2007) The motive behind the implementation of this trust is to engage into private-public partnerships that support transfer of resources of ICT to Kenyan public schools and various other learning centers. It has certain goals set for the next operating five years. The premier goals includes: mobilization of resources of infrastructures of ICT to the schools, assessment for e-readiness in different secondary schools, tertiary institutions and primary schools, development of a ICT portal for sharing of information and establishment of a national centre for computer assembly. It has been approved in accordance with the objectives of the Kenya ICT Fund’s Trust. (Farrell, 2007) This is also expected that the trust would help to gain access to better quality in higher education and speed up response towards new openings of e-learning through use of virtual universities and various other types of distance and open learning. (Reijswoud, 2006)   Being among the under developed countries, Kenya has limited availability of electricity and phone lines. There are very few of those people who have an access to computers. A statistical outline would show that Kenya has 460,000 fixed telephone lines, teledensity of 1, mobile telephony of 9.75 per 100 habitants and 1000 cyber cafes with 1 million users and 78 licensed ISPs. There are 16 television channels that are operational and 24 FM radio stations. 60% of the population gets access to television and 90% to radio access. (Okatch, 2009)   The ministry observed that implementation of ICT enabled programs in Kenya has much of local challenges. Kenya faces high level of poverty, lack of rural electrification and frequent power cuts. There are very few schools those are equipped with ICT tools for the teachers or its students. It is also observed that schools that are equipped with computers, the ratio is 150:1 in comparison to their students. Another disgraceful scenario that is being noticed in various schools is that the ICT infrastructure that is available within the premises is only due to the initiative taken by the parents, the government, NGOs or other agencies and also by private sector enterprise that includes New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) e-school programs. The core problem that comes to much attention to the organizers is the lack of adequate connectivity and infrastructure facilities for network setup through ISP. There are certain schools and institutions that are directly facilitated by connecting through local ISPs but there exists low penetration to the rural areas or to the lower income areas. This results in various connectivity problems as the dedicated lines can access to limited bandwidth or limited to e-mail or the Internet access. To somewhat minimize the accessing problems the ministry has already developed schemes to lift up the strategy of networking the various public institutions throughout the country to develop the connectivity of the educational sector. (Farrell, 2007)         To enrich the various practices of teaching, learning and administration, the government has included a range of various ICT support tools. The various tools are: electric board, audiocassette, radio for interactive Radio Instructions, Video/TV learning, Computer, totally Integrated ICT Infrastructure and Support Application Systems (SAS). (National Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Strategy for Education and Training, 2006) It enables use of digital tools to have better accessibility and maintain quality in delivery of education in Kenya.   Technically if we give a thorough look into the country’s effectiveness to use and maintain the ICT infrastructure at different levels of educational institutions, it would give us a view that the ICT infrastructural setup is less than 40% of the total available resources. The educational management sector that comprises of the MoEST, the agencies involved and institutional managers shall all require effective training in EMIS. (Gorard, Selwyn, Madden and Furlong, 2002) The formulation of Education Management Information System (EMIS) enabled faster collection of data with a wide range of instruments. Earlier collection of huge data and processing of those coupled with insufficient skill-sets delayed the whole process or sometimes led to disruptive situations. (Gorard, Selwyn, Madden and Furlong, 2002) As a result it indirectly affected decision making process, planning and allocation of resources. In that case the National policies supported the implementation of EMIS in order to build an electronic-based infrastructure. It supported processing of the available data, its use and sharing and finally disintegrating the same across levels. Procurement and customized data processing and analysis software application systems were also targeted. It also stressed upon the various educational indicators in order to monitor and simultaneously evaluate the educational goals and programs.     The government has set the strategic priorities to expand ICT-enabled skill sets for all of those involved in the process. It looks to build up sector managers for better delivery of services, synthesize stakeholders on integration of ICT services and finally building up of infrastructural capacity for better use and maintaining of ICT equipments. National policies set with respect to the teachers are: each school should have at least one teacher who should be available for teaching ICT, support literacy in ICT and integrate also maintain equipments. (Wafula and Wanjohi, n.d.)   Through wide study it has been found out that especially Kenya among other African countries lack research abilities in order to identify the limitations and challenges that are involved in the educational sector. The policies stated above also targets research and development programs in order to facilitate ICT in education and training. It proves to disseminate the research and development results and sketch out a legal framework for innovations and related intellectual property rights issue.   According to the legal and regulatory framework of the country, education and training is mainly governed by Education Act (1968) supported by other related Acts issued by the Parliament. The various Acts issued by the Parliament includes TSC Act, KNEC Act, Adult Education Act, University Acts and other Acts and charters of universities. The Ministry along with other important government departments Directorate of e-Government, Government Information Technology Services (GITS) and most likely the private sector responded to prevention of growing cyber crimes and look out for strengthening measures related to misuse of ICT. This was conducted by implementing guidelines that would govern acquisition and proper use of resources in terms of education, develop standards to protect privacy of the user and respect values of the community. Institutions those involved in conducting examinations and certification programs should have regulated accreditations. (OECD, 1999)    National Policies on the part of UK The government has been spontaneous in its reactions towards ICT developmental strategy in the UK. It has formulated steps to bring about transformation in the field of learning, teaching and providing a helping hand towards improving the children and youth by throwing shared ideas, innovative lessons and arranging professionals for their help. It has promptly reacted to ‘hard to reach’ customer base in serving their needs in a more dedicative way to allow them satisfy the choices of ‘how’ and ‘where’. The government is also taking sensible steps in order to deliver services that would provide information services to the parents, children, young people, adult learners, and employers. (Kennewell, Parkinson, and Tanner, 2000) Finally, it emphasizes on getting better efficiency and effective levels wherefrom it would be easier to access shared ideas over improved systems and processes. It has duly regarded the development of children’s services more on a wide aspect. (Balanskat, 2007)   ICT and IT stay hand in hand Growing developments that can be seen in the field of ICT enabled education has come on with positive impact on the educational sphere. ICT based e-learning has no doubt facilitated many areas of business, both private and public sectors and educationalists round the world. Several collaborative functions were carried out by joint effort with the government and the IT industry. The government ensures that IT plays a pivotal role in fostering gender gap, meeting the needs of people in rural as well as urban areas. It should fulfill the objectives relating to health, poverty and general welfare issues. The government also entertained the extreme use of IT in schools, colleges and other educational institutions. (National Information and Communications Technology Policy, 2006) It had been observed that Prime Minister Tony Blair had several of his meetings with Business tycoon Bill Gates in order to successfully launch a ‘learning grid’ which finally came into being as National Grid for Learning (NGFL). It was a serious venture with immense role of IT industry. The introduction of NGFL saw involvement of big business firms. (Selwyn and Fitz, 2000) Lessons to be learnt from UK by Kenya Countries all over the world are trying their best to get most out of ICT implementation. The rapid change at which ICT has been going on is fast and allows scope for learning business. Economically Kenya’s performance had been on the lower side compared to other countries. Hence it is required that Kenya builds up its awareness, resources and launches itself to the commitment of the reforms. It should build to support reforms in terms of policies and institutions. Roles are required to be clarified, private-public relations should be formed, and participation from stakeholders along with the NGOs should be facilitated. It should give a strong focus on its scarcity of resources, complement the market forces, highlight societal applications, manage efforts from the bottom level, address the special needs and reorient the national system of innovation. (Aligual, n.d)   Conclusion It has become evident from the above analysis that ICT surely raises the standards of working in an environment. It enables to exchange qualitative and quantitative data over shared network across nations and more importantly in a concise manner. With respect to the report, UK has a long strong history whereas Kenya needs to adapt itself to the needs in order to strengthen its educational sphere. It involves more and more engagement of students by enabling personalized training. Steps taken by the Ministry of Education in order to support various implemental activities either directly or indirectly brought about a great deal of change in the society. There are also different organizations those support the changes in the policies so as to implement projects that involve ICT in education.        References   1. Aligual, E. (n.d). Chapter 19. Benchmarking Information and communication Technology (ICT) Performance: Lessons for Kenya. Retrieved from: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-93068-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html (Accessed on August 28, 2009). 2. Aston, M. (2001). The development and use of indicators to measure the impact of ICT use in education in the United Kingdom and other European countries.  Retrieved from: http://cms.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=1201 (Accessed on August 28, 2009). 3. Balanskat, A. (2007). UK - ICT policy, progress and key facts. Policy Briefings. 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