Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative
Encyclopedia
The Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative is an international not-for-profit organisation providing demand-driven assistance to developing countries seeking to harness the potential of Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT) to improve their education systems.
(Sida), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
(SDC) and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
The education sector is seen as the natural source for the creation of technological literacy and the development of new technological skills as well as other skills that are needed in the new millennium, like problem solving
skills, collaboration
skills, critical reading
and information retrieval
, etc. For new technologies like ICT, the creation of these new skills has meant the introduction of ICT into educational institutions and the introduction of computer literacy or media literacy courses as well as new teaching and learning methods.
The relationship between ICT, education and development in a knowledge economy is increasingly being captured by developing country governments through ther poverty reduction strategies
These efforts have been spurred on by the setting of internationally agreed development goals, such as the MDGs and the Education For All (EFA) goals. Recent monitoring efforts have revealed that several countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the Arab states will find it difficult to approach Universal Primary Completion in the coming decade, while participation rates for secondary education are lowest in SSA (25%), South and West Asia (53%) and the Arab State (66%). This has led to initiatives such as the Fast Track Initiative (FTI). For countries to achieve the MDG and EFA goals, UNESCO notes that there will be a need to, not only allocate more resources to education, but to have these resources planned for and used more effectively. Many donors, including the World Bank, now also acknowledge that ICT can be leveraged to solve some of these challenges facing the education sector.
Information and communication technologies
Information and communications technology or information and communication technology, usually abbreviated as ICT, is often used as an extended synonym for information technology , but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of...
(ICT) to improve their education systems.
Background
GeSCI was established in 2003, borne out of the work of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force which identified education as an area in critical need of development, and one where ICT has the potential to make positive impacts. The UN ICT Task Force approved a proposal for a UN-affiliated organisation to provide demand-driven assistance to developing countries seeking to harness the potential of ICT to improve the quality of teaching and learning in primary and secondary education. GeSCI is governed from Dublin, with the support of Irish Aid, Swedish International Development Cooperation AgencySwedish International Development Cooperation Agency
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency is a government agency of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Sida is responsible for organization of the bulk of Sweden's official development assistance to developing countries....
(Sida), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation is an office-level agency in the federal administration of Switzerland, and a part of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs...
(SDC) and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
ICT4E in the Knowledge Society
Education is considered one of the cornerstones of social economic development. Research has shown that education contributes to poverty reduction and increased economic growth, which in turn leads to an increase in the individual's standard of living; enables the individual to participate in wealth generating activities, leads to the creation of employment and the overall development of society. However, the traditional role of education to promote socio-economic development is being re-examined as greater emphasis is placed on access to education, quality and outcomes of the education system.The education sector is seen as the natural source for the creation of technological literacy and the development of new technological skills as well as other skills that are needed in the new millennium, like problem solving
Problem solving
Problem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping. Consideredthe most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of...
skills, collaboration
Collaboration
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
skills, critical reading
Critical reading
Critical reading is the opposite of naivety in reading. It is a form of skepticism that does not take a text at face value, but involves an examination of claims put forward in the text as well as implicit bias in the texts framing and selection of the information presented...
and information retrieval
Information retrieval
Information retrieval is the area of study concerned with searching for documents, for information within documents, and for metadata about documents, as well as that of searching structured storage, relational databases, and the World Wide Web...
, etc. For new technologies like ICT, the creation of these new skills has meant the introduction of ICT into educational institutions and the introduction of computer literacy or media literacy courses as well as new teaching and learning methods.
The relationship between ICT, education and development in a knowledge economy is increasingly being captured by developing country governments through ther poverty reduction strategies
These efforts have been spurred on by the setting of internationally agreed development goals, such as the MDGs and the Education For All (EFA) goals. Recent monitoring efforts have revealed that several countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the Arab states will find it difficult to approach Universal Primary Completion in the coming decade, while participation rates for secondary education are lowest in SSA (25%), South and West Asia (53%) and the Arab State (66%). This has led to initiatives such as the Fast Track Initiative (FTI). For countries to achieve the MDG and EFA goals, UNESCO notes that there will be a need to, not only allocate more resources to education, but to have these resources planned for and used more effectively. Many donors, including the World Bank, now also acknowledge that ICT can be leveraged to solve some of these challenges facing the education sector.