Do new communications technologies increase access, equity and quality and promote self-centred learning? Can developing countries afford to introduce them to deliver basic education? Are education planners doing enough to develop national education communications policies for the use of radio, television, computers and the Internet?

A study, prepared for UNESCO, presented at the April 2000 World Education Forum in Dakar, summarises international experience in using communication technologies for basic education in schools and distance education. It finds that in recent years technological development in education has been piecemeal, haphazard and unplanned. The study argues that education needs to build on the general local state of development of technology rather than lead it and that educational projects at the cutting edge of technology generally prove unsustainable.

The study also warns against the myth that the use of technologies will, of itself, increase equity. On the contrary, evidence continues to mount that new technologies are widening the gap between the information-rich and the information-poor. They may additionally widen gender inequalities if, for example, schools allow boys to elbow girls away from keyboards.

Among the key points made in the paper are:

• the cost of introducing new technology is often underestimated and usually greater than that of employing teachers - a huge obstacle in developing countries where teachers’ salaries typically account for over 90 per cent of education budgets
• it may be that only when countries achieve a per capita GNP of over US$7000 that they reach a breakeven point where computer-based costs can match those of conventional education
• interactive radio can improve school attendance
• the standard of teachers trained at a distance compares reasonably well with those trained conventionally and it is often cheaper
• scale determines affordability: Mexico’s Telesecundaria programme, with a million learners in remote rural areas, shows that with sufficient numbers television can economically deliver the secondary school curriculum in a way that would be impossible in smaller nations.

The North-South, rich-poor, urban-rural information gaps need urgent attention and the report recommends that educational planners and donors realise that:

• there is still no alternative to primary school: in much of the world providing a trained teacher, a few books and a blackboard must take priority
• there is relatively little scope for the use of computers in primary education: if available, their best use is to enhance teachers’ skills and knowledge
• radio can enrich basic education much more cheaply than television or computers and probably as effectively
• it is important to work with NGOs to use mass media for public, adult and non-formal education around such issues as health, citizenship, family planning and agriculture
• communication technologies can play a significant role in pre and in-service training of teachers, health workers and agricultural extension agents
• more information needs to be collected, and internationally disseminated, on the real costs of using various communications technologies in developing countries.

Source(s):
‘Applying new technologies and cost-effective delivery systems in basic education’ by H. Perraton and C. Creed, World Education Forum, Education for All 2000 Assessment, UNESCO 2000 Full document.
Related sources: ‘Open and distance learning in the developing world’ by H. Perraton, London: Routledge, 2000 Full document.
‘Teacher education guidelines: using open and distance learning’ by H. Perraton, C. Creed and B. Robinson, Paris: UNESCO, 2002 Full document.

Funded by: Department for International Development, UK

id21 Research Highlight: 23 October 2002

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