IT Fundis to support ICT training programme for schools
By Aloyce Menda of JUSTA-AFRICA

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
sector in Tanzania is growing rapidly in most areas except in the maintenance and repair of IT equipment particularly computers and their accessories.

A random survey in institutions that uses ICT excessively like the Press revealed astonishing facts.
The broken ICT equipment could equal or exceed those in operation. In the Business Times media house (http//: www.bcstimes.com )
for instance a storeroom for damaged ICT equipment mostly computers is filled to capacity. The same picture is virtual in the IPP media (http//:
www.ippmedia.com ), Sahara Communications and Publishing Company Limited (www.radiofreeafrica.co.tz ), Habari Corporation Limited (HCL), Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL)
etc.

Since the private media were among the first institutions to use personal computers (PCs) in early
1990s, most have trained their IT technicians or employ some on permanent terms. However, since the demand for IT technicians is high, some absconded to green pastures leaving the media in desperate situation. It is not uncommon in Dar es Salaam today to meet journalists coming from their newsrooms at
21.00 to 23.00 hours because the daily papers they work for were produced late due to relentless IT equipment faults.

The Tanzanian Ministry of Communication and Transport (MoCT) under which the ICT sector falls realized this problem only when most government offices were installed with IT systems in early 2000s. By 2001, the government had yet to formulate national ICT policy but the MoCT approached the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) with request for support in human resources development in the ICT sector.

The MoCT had observed a serious problem that could retard the development of the ICT sector. The problem is lack of competent and adequate IT technicians for maintenance and repair services. SIDA on the other hand commissioned a private consultant firm - Lamtrac
- to conduct a market survey for IT technicians and identify the need for vocational training of ICT professionals.

The Lamtrac survey revealed a high demand for IT technicians in both private and public sectors of the economy. The Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), a government institute was then requested by SIDA to submit a proposal for the establishment of specific programme for IT technician courses. The proposal was submitted in October 2001 and DIT was privileged to receive financial support amounting to
11 million Swedish Kronor (approx. US$ one million)
for a pilot project.

The project agreement was signed in April 2002 and implementation started by gathering training resources. The project is called IT Fundis, holding the Kiswahili word “fundi” which simply means “a technician”. Realizing the importance of the project, several donors have promised assistance, while others have already contributed equipment to supplement SIDA and DIT efforts.

According to a recent report from DIT (www.dit.ac.tz ), the demand for IT technicians from the institute is high and is likely to increase due to rapid development of the ICT sector in Tanzania. The rapid growth follows the government decision to reduce taxation on computer imports and the 2003 National ICT Policy, which emphasizes ICT application in all sectors of the economy. Recently the government placed ICT among development priorities in the Tanzanian Vision 2025, which is a compass of national development plan to year 2025.

The Vision 2025 is a focal point to several government policies including the national Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the National Education Policy. It is also compatible with the UNDP ‘s Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which emphasizes among other things the advancement of knowledge and people-centered communication for development and poverty reduction.

Apart from training technicians, the IT Fundis Project will involve installation of a Local Area Network (LAN) at the institute and training of staff and non-computer students in basic computer skills.

Mr. E. J. Chachage, a DIT staff in mechanical engineering department, says in a recent DIT newsletter article that the project is beneficial to a broad community of ICT stakeholders in Tanzania, apart from DIT. The secondary beneficiary is the ICT sector, which absorbs the IT support professionals without who the sector will not be able to thrive, says Mr.
Chachage.

“The project also creates employment opportunities for students finishing the courses,” he concludes.

There is no doubt that the Tanzanian Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC) would be the prime beneficiary of the IT Fundis project during the implementation of its project for compulsory ICT training in secondary schools. The implementation of the MoEC project is planned to start in 2006.

With support from SIDA the MoEC organized a unique workshop early this year to unveil the donor supported government plan.” The future of ICT in Secondary Schools - Strategizing for Implementation” was the title of a four-day workshop held at Kunduchi Beach Hotel of Dar es salaam from January 24 to 27, 2005.

It was a unique workshop that probed and eventually set a foundation for integrating Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as a compulsory subject and a learning tool in secondary education in Tanzania Mainland. The workshop gathered participants from a board spectrum of ICT stakeholders in Tanzania. They include eighteen students from selected five secondary schools in Dar es Salaam. The students were able to interact with professors, university lecturers, secondary school teachers, curriculum developers, government officials, ICT experts, service providers and dealers.
All including the students took part in recommending appropriate inputs towards a strategy for implementation.

The burning issues were how to start implementation and whether Tanzania should have a separate policy for ICT training, parallel with the current National ICT Policy of MoCT.

Several participants expressed concerns on the issue of IT technicians to service the ICT equipment once the implementation start. Many secondary schools in Tanzania are far from major urban centres where the few IT technicians available could be contacted.
Unanimously participants agreed that implementation should start by training teachers and other support staff such as IT technicians. However they were almost divided on the issue of policy. A good number of them favoured the idea of developing a specific policy for ICT training and application in the education sector. Those who rejected the idea, with a view that the current National ICT Policy is adequate, challenged these participants. On the other hand were the senior government officials who cautioned that though creating a new policy could look better and simple, its process could take long time before approval by the Cabinet of government ministers.

Before, Professor Tolly Mbwette of Open University of Tanzania (OUT) has stressed for a need for specific policy on ICT training on ground that the current National ICT Policy is too narrow and that the issue of ICT being applied in training is mentioned very lightly. A new policy on ICT training is compulsory and would elaborate in detail all necessary ingredients required including curriculum, methodologies and resources, he agued.

Mr. Joris Komen, a Namibia educationalist from School Net Namibia had supported Professor Mbwette’s argument. He said in the workshop that Namibia and several developing countries already have specific policies on ICT training that are applicable in secondary education. “These policies are working very well,” he stressed amid considerable support from a number of teachers and curriculum developers from the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE).

TIE has earlier last year released a study report that emphasized the need for specific ICT policy for education in Tanzania. The study was conducted by one of senior curriculum developers in TIE.

Nevertheless, the demand for specific policy was finally diluted by a strong argument by Mr.Theophil Mlaki, a director from the Tanzanian Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH). He said the process of formulating a policy up to its approval could be easier in Namibia because of its small population but not in Tanzania a country of more than 30 million people. He said in Tanzania, policies takes long before approval by the cabinet because in the process of preparation government officials should involve all stakeholders outside the government.

The demand for specific policy came after long deliberations and exchange of ideas amongst participants who realized in the workshop that ICT was too important as a tool and subject to a student.

Closing the workshop on January 27, the Deputy Minister of Education and Culture Bujiku Sakila, said his ministry has devised a plan to introduce ICT in teachers’ colleges. He said the objective was to enable tutors in teachers colleges become computer literate as a pre-condition to use ICT as a teaching and learning tool. He called assistance in the implementation of ICT in both teachers’ colleges and secondary schools in order to build a country of knowledgeable society. A participant from DIT said after the workshop that IT Fundis project in timely and would provide a fundamental base towards the implementation of the strategy for ICT training in secondary schools.

ENDS

Aloyce Menda is the coordinator of JUSTA-AFRICA [] and the second price winner of the UNECA / AISI Media Award 2004 [ www.uneca.org/aisi/ma04winners.htm OR www.uneca.org/aisi/ma04quotes.htm ] E-mail: [email protected]