46387 SURVEY OF ICT AND EDUCATION IN AFRICA: Guinea Country Report ICT for Education in Guinea by Osei Tutu Agyeman June 2007 Source: World Fact Book 1 Please note: This short Country Report, a result of a larger infoDev-supported Survey of ICT in Education in Africa, provides a general overview of current activities and issues related to ICT use in education in the country. The data presented here should be regarded as illustrative rather than exhaustive. ICT use in education is at a particularly dynamic stage in Africa; new developments and announcements happening on a daily basis somewhere on the continent. Therefore, these reports should be seen as "snapshots" that were current at the time they were taken; it is expected that certain facts and figures presented may become dated very quickly. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are entirely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of infoDev, the Donors of infoDev, the World Bank and its affiliated organizations, the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank cannot guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply on the part of the World Bank any judgment of the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. It is expected that individual Country Reports from the Survey of ICT and Education in Africa will be updated in an iterative process over time based on additional research and feedback received through the infoDev web site. For more information, and to suggest modifications to individual Country Reports, please see www.infodev.org/ict4edu- Africa. Guinea - 1 www.infodev.org Overview Guinea has begun the implementation of ICT in the tertiary education sector in collaboration with donors. Donor efforts have also recorded significant impact on the primary and secondary education sectors. Specifically, USAID has assisted Guinea under the GLOBE programme and launched other initiatives jointly with some state organisations. Poor electrification and telecommunication infrastructure, however, hinders the process. Connectivity is limited to certain urban areas and power supply is at best irregular even in the administrative region in the capital city, Conakry, where the ministries and principal organs of state are located. This phenomenon among others presents challenges to the deployment of ICTs across the country, particularly in the education sector. Country Profile The Republic of Guinea is located on the west coast of Africa between Sierra Leone and Guinea- Bissau. It is a well-watered country with great agricultural potential. Guinea was colonised by France and became independent in 1958. Owing to the isolationist policies pursued by its first government, the country's economy suffered. Table 1 provides some selected soci-economic indicators for the country. Table 1: Socio-economic Indicators: Guinea Indicator Population 9.95 million (2007) Literacy Male: 42.6% Female: 18.1% Total: 29.5% (2003) Growth rate 2.62% (2007) GDP (US dollars) $3.8 billion (2006) GDP per capita (US dollars) $2,100 (2006) Human Development Index 160 (out of 177 countries)2 The country has about one-third of the world's reserves of bauxite. Bauxite mining is the mainstay of the economy and contributes 70% to export earnings. About 80% of the country's workforce is in the agricultural sector, which contributes approximately 25.6% to the country's GDP. About 47% of the population lives below the poverty line. Education System 2 As indicated below, there are four ministerial departments in charge of the various educational sectors: · Pre-primary: Ministry for Social Affairs and the Promotion of Women and Children (MASPFE) · Primary and secondary: Ministry for Civic and Pre-university Education (MEPU-EC) · Vocational and professional: Ministry for Vocational and Professional Education (MET-FP) · Tertiary: Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESRS) These four ministries, in collaboration with state organs and departments under the ministries and partners and donors, have reached various stages of implementation of ICTs in the different educational sectors. Government allocates 25.6% of budgetary resources to education. Guinea has a system of six years of basic education and seven years of secondary education (four years for the first cycle and three for the second). Tertiary education varies from one to four years depending on the desired qualification. The compulsory age for schooling is seven years. Table 2 reveals the enrolment figures for the different educational levels.3 Table 2: School Enrolment Statistics Sector 1999/2000 2000/2001 2001/2002 2002/2003 2003/2004 Pre- 67,881 primary Primary 790,497 853,623 997,645 1,081,192 1,163,126 Secondary 189,494 232,567 271,089 294,354 1,163,126 Vocational 11,049 13,166 13,085 13,360 14,947 Teacher 1,269 2,132 2,530 2,155 3,582 training Tertiary 11,682 13,500 14,819 16,361 22,223 The low enrolment in the vocational and professional sector is of concern to the government. Infrastructure Guinea's telecommunications infrastructure is the least developed in West Africa. The telephone density is only 0.3% for fixed lines and 1.7% for mobile/cellular phone penetration. However, between 2000 and 2005, the number of mobile phone users increased by 35%. Table 3 provides a snapshot of the state of Guinea's telecommunications infrastructure and usage statistics.4 Table 3: ICT in Guinea Indicator Telephones - main lines in use 26,200 (2005) 3 Telephones - mobile cellular 189,000 (2005) Radio broadcast stations 5 FM; 3 shortwave (2006) Radios 357,000 (1997) Television broadcast stations 6 low capacity (2001) Televisions 85,000 (1997) Internet service providers 5 (2006) Internet users 46,000 (2005) The USAID Leland Initiative, an effort to extend Internet connectivity in African countries, served as the springboard for Guinea. Sotelgui, the country's main telecom operator was provided a high-speed Internet gateway under the project to which private Internet service providers (ISPs) could subscribe and sell Internet services to the public. USAID also assisted the two public universities, the universities of Conakry and Kankan and their remote campuses, to establish campus networks, Internet, and telephone connections ­ commercial services that could be extended to the larger public through wireless links and the Sotelgui infrastructure. The drawback to these initiatives is the absence or irregularity of electric power supply in most parts of the country. Perennial power cuts are the norm and affect even the administrative district of Conakry. About 30% of the Internet users are foreigners with the larger proportion of remaining users composed mainly of university students and faculty members. ICT Policies Guinea's NICI plan document was finalised in March 2002.5 The plan provides for the creation of jobs through the use of ICTs and focuses on the following: · Strengthening the ICT policy and regulatory process · Educating and building capacity-building in ICT · Developing infrastructure to provide the country and users with adequate bandwidth and applications · Developing content and democratising access to all users, including civil society · Promoting the participation of the private sector in ICT activities The plan includes the following programmes that have a direct or indirect impact on education: · Establishing a telephone and Internet network for higher education institutions · Strengthening and expanding telecom, Internet, and TV infrastructure · Expanding rural telephony and community telecentres · Digitising the telecom network The government's educational policy focuses on four basic objectives: · 100% attendance for school pupils by 2015 4 · Promoting pre-school education · Providing large access to professional and vocational training · Promoting gender balance in education for the different regions of the country The various educational levels have been impacted by the Education for All and gender equity projects with enrolment and completion rates having increased significantly. Current ICT Initiatives and Projects Basic and secondary education The National Institute for Pedagogical Research and Action (Institute National de Recherche et d'Action en Pédagogie, INRAP) under MEPU-EC designed an interactive radio instruction programme for pupils in primary classes that effectively raised the levels of school attendance. The programme,6 called Under the Kapok Tree, which develops both teachers and pupils, began in 2006, is aired 90 minutes per week for 22 weeks of the school year. It is estimated that 20,000 teachers and 900,000 pupils benefit from the programme. Lessons cover language, mathematics, science, community health, and early child development methods. To effectively implement the programme, the government distributed teachers' guides and wind-up radios that do not require electricity. These activities are combined with bimonthly meetings and introductory workshops for teachers to give them necessary pedagogical support to adapt to the interactive style of teaching. USAID financed the project and jointly designed the content with INRAP. USAID-Guinea also financed the participation of 14 primary, secondary, and professional schools in the GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) programme by donating one laptop to each of the schools for the students and teachers to collect data. Activities covered atmospheric research, soil, earth, biological, and geological data and information- gathering using scientific instruments provided by GLOBE. This facility enabled the teachers and their students to share scientific measurements of geological systems and their observations with students and scientists throughout the world. The project is an international network of more than one million students in over 1,400 schools in 105 countries. Tertiary level Université de Conakry has a campus network maintained by a fibre optic backbone and 100BaseT Ethernet cables linking the buildings and faculties and 1,000 computers in the offices of lecturers and administrators.7 Each faculty has a laboratory of five to nine computers for use by the lecturers and students alike. However, the PC-to-user ratio in the laboratories is 10:1,000. The government established the network with assistance from the U.S. government at a cost of USD$2 million. The principal objective is to interconnect the network to the entire educational system in Guinea including the country's second university and other remote campuses. The latter are to be connected by wireless to the hub in the University of Conakry where the e-mail, 5 Web, and file servers are located. The university's Internet and telephone facility is serviced by a 3.5 metre diameter installed VSAT. The Faculty of Science of the University of Conakry has, in collaboration with ISSEG, the Higher Institute for Science Education, developed e-content modules for mathematics, physics, biology, and chemistry. The success of the initial e-modules encouraged the university to increase the number of e-content courses. In early 2003, the Centre Universitaire de Labe, under the Université de Conakry, also produced an e-mathematics module. The university plans to establish resource centres nationwide to increase accessibility to these courses. Similarly, the University of Kankan is extending the network to its remote campuses.8 Other on-line university courses are offered in collaboration with the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) in the universities of Conakry and Kanakan and the decentralised campus of Labe.9 RESAFAD, the African network for distance education (Réseau Francophone de Formation à Distance), in collaboration with MEPU-EC, delivered teacher-training courses via the Internet to teachers in the country.10 The courses were targeted at head teachers who manage schools of six or more classes and were aimed at raising the quality of school leadership and management. About 960 head teachers were involved in the programme, which was intended to impact all primary school teachers following a cascading pattern of capacity transfer from the head teachers to teachers under their supervision. The Department of Training Planning, Administration and Education Management (DFPAGE) in ISSEG was directly responsible for the implementation of the RESAFAD programme. A cyber café that can accommodate thirty people was set up for the teachers to use at ISSEG. Plans were made to establish cyber centres in the eight regions of the country to link the facility for teachers nationwide. Generally, the RESAFAD project aims at assisting developing countries to participate in knowledge-based economies and uses ICT to provide state-of-the-art employment-focused education to deliver training to the workforce, thereby reducing the pressure on formal education systems. Tertiary science education The Fundamental Levels of Quality and Equity project, NFQE (Niveaux Fondamentaux de Qualité et Equité) also used multimedia tools and equipment to deliver its programmes.11 This bi- modal training programme targeted at teachers and pupils was launched in 1997 and combined traditional teaching methods with radio and audiocassette in distance learning activities. The main components of the programme were: · Leadership development support in education · Assistance in the preparation of policy implementation · Teacher training, specifically in time and class management, mathematical logic, reading and questions administration 6 · Training of teacher-trainers · Development and improvement of teaching materials for pupils · Building management capacity using computers · Preparation of a national teacher-training policy USAID-Guinea was the main financier of the NFQE project that ended in 2004. The programme impacted more that 1.5 million pupils, 25,300 teachers, and 4,000 head teachers nationwide. It offered more than 60 hours of training to elementary school teachers via the Internet, radio, and other media. USAID signed an agreement with the University de Kankan to teach Internet and network courses.12 This provided 33 computers ­ one to each of the 33 district education headquarters. However some of the DPEs do not have electric power supply and could not use their computers. Other initiatives in teacher education Other interventions have been recorded in the primary-teacher education contexts. ISFAD, Guinea's Higher Institute for Distance Education (Institut Supérieur de la Formation à Distance) launched a distance learning teacher-training programme to augment placements for teacher trainees. The distance learning candidates did not need to pass the teacher-trainee entrance exams. Rather, they paid fees annually and were required to pass only the annual examinations set by the examining board.13 ISFAD started the programme with 800 trainees in the 2003/2004 academic year and employed radio programmes in addition to course manuals to educate the teacher-trainees. There are plans to include video materials, but ISFAD has yet to acquire the equipment for video production. The National Distance Teaching Service (Le Service National d'Enseignement à Distance) also uses audio materials, both radio and audiocassettes, to deliver French-language courses to teachers nationwide using material adapted from the AUF. Adult education In a bid to reduce the level of illiteracy in Guinea, ISSEG, though an institute for higher education, launched the POSCHIAVO adult education project14 in collaboration with the Institut Suisse de Pedagogie pour la Formation Professionelle based in Lugano in Switzerland to teach people in disadvantaged and rural comities to read. The Institut Supérieur des Sciences d' Éducation Générale (ISSEG),15 a teacher-training establishment, partnered with the Service National d'Alphabétisation (National Literacy Service) and NGOs engaged in adult education activities and programmes. The NGOS provided 16 trainees, 12 of which were retained under the project after their training to undertake adult literacy teaching assignments in designated communities. The remaining four found jobs with other NGOs. To ensure project sustainability, the literacy programme was integrated with a community development project for each beneficiary community. One village was assisted financially to build and operate a rice mill; another had a corn mill; and in another a cyber café was established. 7 In this project the communities, in collaboration with their trainer, identify a project and request assistance form POSCHIAVO to implement it. The communities refund 70% of the cost of their projects, and that money is used as a revolving fund to assist other needy villages or communities. Facilities are withdrawn from any community that refuses to refund the funds. Initially POSHIAVO used e-learning resources to train the trainers provided by the NGOs. Once in the field, the Swiss donor also sent in trainers who helped the local trainers, over a two-week period per community, to deliver the literacy programmes where the trainers encountered difficulty. The involvement of the Swiss trainers was a quality improvement and evaluation strategy intended to ensure that the training approaches were well assimilated both by the trainers and the adult learners. Generally, the POSCHIAVO project used training and communication resources offered by Internet to optimise literacy and community development and to organise a network of micro- projects focused on education for community development and quality improvement. The project aims at replicating the literacy and micro-project activities nationwide. There are two components to the course content for the trainers: ICT and community development. ICT covers Microsoft Office applications: such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, while community development covered family budgeting, micro-enterprise management, preparing community development micro-projects, community health, and social psychology. Implementing ICT in Education: What Helps and What Hinders? Table 4 provides a summary of the current stage of ICT development in Guinea in terms of enabling or constraining features in the education system. Table 4: Factors Influencing ICT Adoption Sectors Enabling features Constraining features Risk factors ICT deployment · Installation of the · Universities · Possibility of failure of high-speed Internet financially government or facilities in Sotelgui constrained from universities to renew or and the universities. extending the maintain installed · Extension by the facilities even on the facilities. universities of campuses. · Inability of government to Internet and other · Private sector ISPs extend ICT infrastructure services to the public emphasise due to financial and via wireless links commercial service budgetary constraints. and Sotelgui. against community service. · Low levels of ICT literacy in the general and teaching population. 8 Non-formal The establishment of Insufficiency of project Financial means to continue education 300 NAFA centres (rural funds for the and maintain the facilities second-chance schools) establishment of NAFA after project completion. for drop-outs or centres to cover all the unenrolled children by needy communities in the UNDP. the country. Gender equity Girls accorded 80% Tradition keeps girls Abandonment of the priority priority enrolment in the from being educated, policy for girls with time. NAFA centres. especially in the rural areas. Vocational and Government policy to Government budgetary Student preference for professional increase the number of constraints. academic to education schools and enlarge the professional/vocational intake of vocational and training. professional student populations. Community- The plan to extend the Poor financial Possibility of project focused POSCHIAVO and management practices or bankruptcy owing to the education similar projects to other attitudes of trainee refusal of communities to disadvantaged and rural associations in deprived reimburse scarce project communities. communities. funds. ICT policy Policy developed and Slow pace of implementation announced and options deregulation and advertised. privatisation of the communications sector. Notes 1. The World Factbook 2007. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gv.html 2. Human Development Report 2006. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_GIN.html 3. Rapport National de la République de Guinée. Séminaire Ministériel sur l'Education des Populations Rurales en Afrique. Septembre 2005. Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'Alimentation et l'Agriculture (FAO) : http://www.fao.org/SD/ERP/addisababa/session%202%20country%20presentation/PPP%20Guinee.ppt#411,31,Évol ution des effectifs (1999-2004) 4. The World Factbook 2007. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gv.html 5. Plan de Développement de l'Infrastructure Nationale d'Information et de Communication de la République de Guinée 2001-2004. Mars 2002. United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) : http://www.uneca.org/aisi/docs/PLAN%20NICI%20GUINEE.doc) 6. From Repetition to Comprehension : Interactive Methods focus student-centered learning in Guinea. May 2005. International Education System (IES): http://ies.edc.org/news/articles.php?id=24 7. Diallo, Ahmadou Diouhé. Cas de l'Université de Conakry :http://event-africa- networking.web.cern.ch/event-africa- networking/workshop/slides/CAS%20DE%20l%E2%80%99UNIVERSITE%20%20DE%20CONAKRY.ppt#257,2, Diapositive 2 Point sur le centre Aden Kankan. Mars 2006. ADEN : http://www.africaden.net/spip.php?article309] 9 9. Bernard, Nicole. Autour du PCSM, l'action universitaire sur les différents acteurs : étudiants, enseignants et institution. Université de Sherbrooke :http://www.dmi.usherb.ca/ciruisef/DOC_ciruisef/DOC_Dakar2003/Dakar_17mc_Bernard_01.pdf L'Expérience Guinéenne en Formation à distance. Edusud : http://www.edusud.org/IMG/pdf/aguinee.pdf 11. Pratiques de formation reposant sur l'utilisation des médias, de la fad et de l'internet. Edusud : http://www.edusud.org/adea/guinee-c1.pdf Ndayisaba, Joseph. Le Renforcement des capacités dans les institutions de formation des enseignants en Afrique subsaharienne : Guinée. 2003. UNESCO : http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001434/143485f.pdf 13. L'Expérience Guinéenne en Formation à distance. Edusud : http://www.edusud.org/IMG/pdf/aguinee.pdf 14. Peraya, Daniel. The Poschiavo Project : remote formation with the project of regional development. 1999. THOT:http://thot.cursus.edu/en/rubrique.asp?no=1465 15. Guinea-Our Projects. dvv international: http://www.iiz-dvv.de/englisch/Kooperationen/Afrika/guinea.htm. Given the constantly changing nature of the Internet, we suggest that you copy the document or web site title (and author or organization name, as appropriate) of a resource below into your favorite search engine if a link on this page is not working. 1 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gv.html 2 http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_GIN.html 3 http://www.fao.org/SD/ERP/addisababa/session%202%20country%20presentation/PPP%20Guin ee.ppt#411,31,Évolution des effectifs (1999-2004) 4 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gv.html 5 http://www.uneca.org/aisi/docs/PLAN%20NICI%20GUINEE.doc) 6 http://ies.edc.org/news/articles.php?id=24 7 http://event-africa-networking.web.cern.ch/event-africa- networking/workshop/slides/CAS%20DE%20l%E2%80%99UNIVERSITE%20%20DE%20CO NAKRY.ppt#257,2,Diapositive 2 8 http://www.africaden.net/spip.php?article309] 9 http://www.dmi.usherb.ca/ciruisef/DOC_ciruisef/DOC_Dakar2003/Dakar_17mc_Bernard_01.pdf 10 http://www.edusud.org/IMG/pdf/aguinee.pdf 11 http://www.edusud.org/adea/guinee-c1.pdf 12 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001434/143485f.pdf 13 http://www.edusud.org/IMG/pdf/aguinee.pdf 14 http://thot.cursus.edu/en/rubrique.asp?no=1465 15 http://www.iiz-dvv.de/englisch/Kooperationen/Afrika/guinea.htm 10