Education and Technology :Top Agenda at the 9th eLearning Africa Ministerial Round Table in Cairo
African ministers attending the 9th eLearning Africa Ministerial Round Table in Cairo on May 24th are looking to turn dreams into reality.
Education and training are at the heart of the African Union’s 2063 Vision for a ‘transformed continent’ and ministers of Education, Skills, Finance and ICT from all over Africa will discuss delivery mechanisms at the annual Round Table on ICT for education, training and development.
“The ministers want to move from talk to action,” says Charles Senkondo, Executive Director of Tanzania’s Global Learning Agency (TaGLA), who will chair a session at the Round Table. “They want to progress from ideas to implementation. There is a mood now that the African Union’s 2063 Vision is a really exciting view of what Africa could be like for our children and we all want to focus on how to make it happen.
“Education and technology are at the heart of it. The decades ahead offer a huge opportunity for Africa and decisions taken at this conference, together with the ideas, plans and partnerships created here, will have an immense significance for the future.”
A key issue for ministers at the Round Table will be how different countries can share critical communications infrastructure and expertise, in order to create a “multiplier effect” in sectors crucial for future economic development, such as education.
“Mistakes were made by many countries in the past,” says Senkondo. “All too often, we failed to share our expertise with one another. And too many countries focused on expensive technological gimmicks, rather than on working together to improve infrastructure across the continent. Important lessons have now been learned, though. Now we’re going to see Africa move ahead very quickly and African education is going to be a real growth sector.”
The Ministerial Round Table on ICT for education, training and development is held at eLearning Africa every year. The theme for this year’s eLearning Africa, which is being held in North Africa for the first time, is “Making Vision Reality: Imagination, Innovation and Implementation.”
African ministers will be joined at the Round Table by other participants, including Günter Nooke, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s personal representative for Africa, and by business leaders, academics and commentators.
Every year eLearning Africa brings together over 1,200 eLearning experts, high-level decision makers, practitioners, researchers, entrepreneurs and stakeholders from over 90 countries, and from across the education, business and public sectors. They discuss, debate, inform, share experience and plan action. In 2016, eLearning Africa will be hosted by Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), under the patronage of H.E. Yasser ElKady, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.
As the largest conference of its kind, the three-day event has become widely recognised as an unmissable occasion for anyone with an interest in education in Africa. It provides outstanding opportunities to learn, understand, present, promote, exhibit, connect and develop new partnerships.
