The Global Forum event was not only the first event for GeSCI to co-host but it also signified the next stage in GeSCI's work in two of our priority countries. Concurrent to the main plenaries and the breakout sessions that formed the Global Forum on ICTs in education, GeSCI organised two roundtables which each focused on two of our priority countries Namibia and India. Though each had very different objectives, both roundtables produced highly successful results.
At the Nambian roundtable, Nangolo Mbumba, Minister of Education for Namibia and his team presented his government's recently produced high-level policy for the application of ICTs for education in Namibia. Greater emphasis on the pedagogical use of ICTs as an integrated tool in the teaching-learning process at all stages of the educational system was recommended.
Throughout the course of this Roundtable, a number of issues and challenges along with their solutions were discussed for Namibia to be successful with their aims. . Mr Khalid Bomba, GeSCI Country Programme Faciliator is playing a key role in the implementation of this project.
At the Indian Rountable confrence chaired by the Mr Ghanshyam Tiwari, the Rajasthani Minister for Education, the state of the ICT-for-Education sector in India was assessed. The conference also explored ways in which GeSCI partners could support India's future work in the area of ICT for education.
Mr Madhavan Nambiar from the Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology highlighted that while India has made
significant advances in the area of ICTs, the deployment of these technologies in education has been a relevant recent trend. With a number of non-governmental partners making expressions of initial interest in the work that India hopes to achieve with ICTs in education, it is clear that the value for using ICTs as the tool for raising standards of education and the process is to identify the best solutions to match for Indian educational needs is being considered seriously.
Source: GeCSI
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