Lawrence Kambiwoa Nunatcho Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow Pennsylvania State University United States of America

National Pedagogic Inspector of Informatics

Ministry of Secondary EducationRepublic of Cameroon

Tuesday March 4, 2008SITE 2008Las Vegas, Nevada

Integration of Information Technology into the School

System of CameroonLawrence Kambiwoa

NunatchoHubert H. Humphrey Fellow

Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States of America

AbstractStatus ReviewCurrent Approaches: Developments

Multimedia Resource Centers (MRC) Non-State Funded Computer Laboratories Other Institutionalized Measures Undertaken to Diffuse IT

Current Approaches: ChallengesPrevious Approaches: Evolution & Impact ofImprovement for the Future

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)ConclusionThe Next StepReferences and Acknowledgement

Outline

AbstractChallenges:- Provide diverse opportunities for every learner and teacher to stimulate creativity & collaboration

- IT infrastructure are expensive to set upAs a result, we need:- Innovative solutions which promote use of IT on one-to-one basis for each learner in Cameroon;

- Government to assume appropriate measures, adopt XO, involve teachers & the public

Following the 1998 Law on Education:Scientific and technological advancement is the responsibility of the State

Use legislative and regulatory mechanismsorganize educational activities, andelicit contributions from parents, for example

acquire and implement XO in all schools November 30, 2001 - two MRC inaugurated (Fig.1):• Lycée Général Leclerc, and GBHS Essos Yaounde

Status Review

Status Review, Cont’d

Figure 1: A screen-shot of the Multimedia Resource Center in Government Bilingual High

School, Bertoua.

Two methods of granting access Government funded multimedia

resource centers in selected public schools;

Business entities sign formal contracts with Heads of Schools for an annual fee

Current Approaches: Developments

Multimedia Resource CentersIn the first phase 2001 – 2006, 17 MRCs

went operational (Fig. 2);During the second phase (2006 - 2011),

a number of MRCs will be constructed and interconnected to the pilot schools;

The National Pedagogic Support Unit will be designated to take a central role in populating didactic content and hosting an e-library.

On Aggregate, about 77 students to 1 computer

SchoolsFigure 2: Schools having a multimedia resource

center

Num

ber

of S

tude

nts

or

Com

pute

rs

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 160

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

200082726420257953482660

1457

5258

1118

1709

4890

832

21333809211622194396

60 60 60 53 60 27 60 30 30 60 25 60 60 50 60 60

Number of studentsNumber of computers in MRC

Schools placed in their order of MRC creation

Non-State Funded Computer Labs

Implementation of Ministerial Circular of November 7, 2005 on the provision of agreement to business entities to manage school computer labs.

Schools charge extra exorbitantly on fees.Number of computers in use never

proportionate to the student population.Lack of teachers of IT or access to computer

lab, generates rioting and chaos on campus.

The government has constructed a number of Tele-centers in rural communities of difficult access; committed itself to the NEPAD e-School Project through a Memorandum of Understanding with some consortia to implement the pilot phase in selected schools; and the Head of State earlier in 2001, invited Cameroonians of goodwill to promote technological development.

Other Institutionalized Measures to Diffuse IT

Current Approaches: Challenges1 computer to over 30 students; In 6 years, 17

MRCs put in place meaning there will be only 58 MRCs by 2022 ; Equipment and software are expensive & scarce, impedes learning and training of IT teachers;

IT program is mandatory nationwide, not achievable (about 15% coverage); Limited interaction with devices;

Community Tele-centers have computers < 10, thus it promotes hate and rural exodus; NEPAD e-School project raised iota of hope but inadvertently, promoting IT inertia in the school arena.

Previous Approaches: Evolution & Impact-Progressively create and setup other centers;-A platform for creating and sharing e-

pedagogic resources;-APLON (Fig. 3) is mandatory for the

management of pilot MRCs;-100 teachers received in-service training in

early 2007.However, the impact is not felt within the

school arena- Government has endorsed IT teacher training

and the first set are expected in schools by 2010.

Figure 3: A screenshot of partial use of APLON

To reading, writing and arithmetic of the past has now been added use of IT which is purported to enhance our learning, workflow, and creativity; Prioritize the goals of literacy as underscored by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals :Engage our school children and educators into one-to-one (Fig. 4) computer use with responsibility, andUrge and promote collaborative learning within school and across borders.

Improvement for the Future

Figure 4: Prototype of the OLPC XO

The integration of IT into the school system of Cameroon has been institutionalized but it has not been invested to create an impact on the technological growth in the education of the common child.

However, by judiciously urging parents and teachers to make contributions to the OLPC concept, we will quickly have more students and teachers interacting with the technology of their time so that by 2015 we will become participative in this e-age.

Conclusion

9-to-11 year olds

11-to-13 year olds

Class 5 Class 6 Form 1Form 2

Senior Primary classesSecondary school beginners

(are determinants for(General Education, Technical

secondary schools) Education and Workforce)

National Estimates1,500,000 pupils 1,000,000 students

Composition of National Committee

Ministry of Basic Education Ministry of:

(1) Secondary Education, and(2) Vocational and Professional Training (Workforce Education)

The Next Step

Next Step, Cont’d- National Private Education Secretariat- Civil Society

- Representative from the Ministry of Economy and Finance

- Representatives from the Office of the Prime Minister

- Embassy of the United States of America in Cameroonrepresenting the OLPC Foundation

First year: A consignment of 2,500,000 required by September 2009

Second year: A consignment of 1,000,000 required by September 2010

Third year: A consignment of 800,000 required by September 2011

Subsequent years: A consignment of 800,000

For teachers and trainees, a consignment of 50,000 required for thefirst year and 5,000 in subsequent years.

Lawrence Kambiwoa [email protected]

[email protected]

Thanks

ReferencesLaw N°98/004 of 14th April 1998 To Lay Down Guidelines for Education in Cameroon, Ministry of National Education Archive.Ministerial Circular N°26/05/MINESEC/IGE/IP/Info of 7th November 2005 Specifying the Modalities of Obtaining an Agreement to run a Computer Lab in Schools, Record Book of the Inspectorate of Pedagogy for Informatics.Ministerial Order N°000197/MINESUP/DDES of 07 September 2007 Bearing the Creation and Opening of the Computer Sciences and Classical Letters Discipline at the Higher Teachers Training College of the University of Yaounde 1, www.minesup.gov.cmURL for the One Laptop Per Child: www.olpc.org

AcknowledgementsWe are thankful to the Minister of Secondary Education, for having commissioned us in the Inspectorate of Pedagogy for Informatics to follow-up and control Multimedia Resource Centers in schools. We are also indebted to the Secretary of State whose coordination meetings and feedback on various commissioned assignments to these centers have helped us to put this piece of work together.

Also, we owe much gratitude to the Hubert H. Humphrey program for committing registration to the SITE International Conference at Las Vegas, USA. In fact, we are very much delighted with the critic of the material expressed by Dr. Syedur Rahman, Director of International programs at the College of Education, Pennsylvania State University.

Finally, we would like to also appreciate the remarks made by Mrs Ogork Susan, National Pedagogic Inspector of English as well as Mrs Doh Vivian, teacher trainer, for skimming through the original manuscripts.

In all, your remarks or comments were closely followed while setting this piece of work.