Algerian schools launch sweeping IT education plan

23/01/2009

Algeria began an ambitious plan this month to put computers in every classroom and require ICT training for education sector personnel. For some teachers, however, the transition has not been easy.

By Mohand Ouali for Magharebia in Algiers -23/01/09

[Getty Images] The Algerian government plans to distribute computers to every school in the country.

Information technology and computer skills will soon reach a new level in Algerian schools. The government plans to distribute computers to every school in the country and expects teachers and students to use them in nearly all academic fields of study, Education Minister Boubekeur Benbouzid told legislators on January 15th.

A national conference will be held in the next few months to implement the ICT strategy first proposed by the National Institute for Educational Research. The initial roll-out covers 1,600 high schools and 2,000 middle schools. By the end of 2009, at least 5,000 middle schools will be fully equipped with computers.

The government has already allocated the budget for the ambitious plan, Benbouzid said.

The use of IT in the Algerian education system has been limited to administrative services. Within the last few years, however, the plan to incorporate computers into the classroom began to gain currency.

"The idea at the start was to set up an IT suite in every high school and college, but experience has shown that would not be enough, so the government decided to give them a second suite. This plan was later broadened to include primary schools. The ultimate aim was to use the computer as a tool for teaching all subjects," explained Tahar Boumediene, who leads the centre for the supply and maintenance of teaching equipment (CAMEMD).

Since 2006, when the programme was accelerated, 80% of high schools and 20% of middle schools have been wired, Boumediene told Magharebia, adding that "other calls for tender will follow to acquire around 4,000 IT suites".

Falling prices have proven advantageous to Algeria's ICT initiative. "We started with an allocation of around 2m dinars per school, which is 16 computers per structure. The cost of the equipment has halved," he noted.

In September of last year, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika asked the government to make new communication technologies and computer education available at all levels of the nation's education system, including primary schools.

The goal is highly ambitious, given the size of the sector. Algerian schools took in more than 8 million pupils at the start of this school year, the number of school establishments has risen to nearly 25,000 and the education sector currently employs more than a half-million workers.

The new plan to computerise schools also requires skilled instructors and teachers to keep the operation running. For now, Algeria lacks the trained personnel needed to reach the nation's educational objectives.

Therefore, the government has ordered school principals and teachers to go through computer training programmes and, in turn, educate their students. By the end of January, all schools must set up training programmes of at least 30 hours, which staff members will be obliged to take outside normal work hours.

"In some schools, it has gone very well, because there has been goodwill on the part of teachers, establishment heads and pupils. In others, it's going less well. Some have a fear of the new," Boumediene added.

O. Haciba, who teaches mathematics in a high school in Bab El Oued (Algiers), makes no secret of her irritation in the face of decisions which come "from on high".

"Teachers are left in the dark. We don’t know exactly where this is leading or the concrete pedagogical content of this project." For this teacher and trade union member, the plan must do more than maintain the current scenario, "where pupils simply use computers to copy documents from the Internet".

Despite the challenges posed by the plan to make IT literacy universal, education sector officials are bolstered by results and optimistic about the future. "The number of computers per school is much higher than in Morocco and Tunisia," Boumediene told Magharebia.

"Our hope," he added, "is to equip every pupil with a computer".