The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South African Schools: Comparing the Rural and Urban Schools in the Mpumalanga Province

1
The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province
2. Motivation
1. Introduction
Authors work broadly on e-Learning in HE. We
learnt in one of our studies that learner
background informs adaptation (or lack of) to
computer-based learning at tertiary level. We
wondered whether school conditions are conducive
to exposing pupils to ICT, so as to ready them
for easy adaption into e-Learning at tertiary
level.

• While considering how to go ahead, we noted
  headlines of poor matric results in 2006.
• Most poor results were in rural largely black
  schools. At the same time, excellent results in
  many urban schools were noted praised.
• We became curious wondered to what extent does
  access to resources contribute to the status
  quo. We focused on the ICT resource.

3. Problem

• Our background research suggest that
• Lack of access to basic educational resources
  have a negative effect on the quality of
  education
• Rural (vs urban) schools are still severely
  under-resourced, even in the new South Africa.
• Lack of resources, including ICT resurces
  contributes to the poor quality of education
• The background of rural pupils (in schools
  without ICT) does not support easy adaption into
  e-Learning at tertiary level

Mlitwa, N. Nonyane, J., 2008
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 2
. . . Problem (Continued)

• With the full understanding of the commitment
• At international level (the UN Millenium Goals,
  2015) to half illiteracy by 2015, through among
  other things, the use of ICT in education
• The NEPAD e-Africa Commission initiative that
  promotes the computerisation of Schools in
  Africa and
• South Africas very own e-Education legislation
  that clearly seeks to computerise all schools,
• We wanted to understand what the status of ICT
  access is between urban rural schools
• Case studies in several provinces in South Africa
  were conducted in 2007.
• This study reports on the case study in
  Mpumalanga Province.

4. Background on the following slide
Mlitwa, N. Nonyane, J., 2008
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 3
We found the following background, in the New
South Africa, to be disturbing
Source www.blundells.org Abundant Resources in
Urban Schools
Source City Press, 21 May 2007 in
www.images24.com Lack of Basic Resources in
Rural Schools
Poor Matric results in under-resourced schools
suggests a positive co-relationship between
inadequate resources and poor performance.
RESEARCH QUESTION In the presence of the
e-Education Policy, (1) what is the real
situation in rural schools, (2) how can poor
resources including a lact of ICT access be
explained, and (3) ultimately be addressed.
Mlitwa, N. Nonyane, J., 2008
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 4
5. Methodology
To address question 1 what is the real
situation in schools, we conducted a case study
in Mpumalanga Province
Table 1. Research samples Qualitative interviews Table 1. Research samples Qualitative interviews Table 1. Research samples Qualitative interviews Table 1. Research samples Qualitative interviews Table 1. Research samples Qualitative interviews
Name of School Location Location Primary P Secondary S Official Interviewed
Lowveld Nelspruit Nelspruit S Deputy Principal Urban
Klipspringer Nelspruit Nelspruit P Principal Urban
Mchaka Cunningmore B Bushbuck Ridge Area S Principal Rural
Tiyimeleni Cunningmore B Bushbuck Ridge Area P Principal Rural
James Khoza Cunningmore A Bushbuck Ridge Area S Deputy Principal Rural
Bunny Khoza Kildare B Bushbuck Ridge Area S Educator Rural
Nwakupana Kildare B Bushbuck Ridge Area P Deputy Principal Rural
Saringwa Cunningmore B Bushbuck Ridge Area P Principal Rural
Luka Croquet Clawn Bushbuck Ridge Area S Educator Rural
J.J Matsane Somerset Bushbuck Ridge Area P Educator Rural
Explanatory notes Secondary school School catering for formal education for grades 9 to 12 Primary school is a level of childhood education for learners from grade R to 8 Explanatory notes Secondary school School catering for formal education for grades 9 to 12 Primary school is a level of childhood education for learners from grade R to 8 Explanatory notes Secondary school School catering for formal education for grades 9 to 12 Primary school is a level of childhood education for learners from grade R to 8 Explanatory notes Secondary school School catering for formal education for grades 9 to 12 Primary school is a level of childhood education for learners from grade R to 8 Explanatory notes Secondary school School catering for formal education for grades 9 to 12 Primary school is a level of childhood education for learners from grade R to 8
Mlitwa, N. Nonyane, J., 2008
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 5
... Methodology Continued
Findings to question 1, were further interoagted
to address questions 2 3how can poor resources
including a lack of ICT resources be explained,
and ultimately be addressed. We built on Keats
(2007) - to develop a framework for understanding
implementations of ICT initiatives in Social
settings. Many people understand the
significance of technology in improving social
processes such as education. As Keats argues,
however
It is a very common mistake to focus on
technologies Even IT people often do this And
often when they don't think they are doing so!
Mlitwa, N. Nonyane, J., 2008
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 6
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 7
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 8
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 9
... Methodology Continued
A framework to make sense of implementations of
ICT initiatives in Social settings built on
Keats (2007)

• Clear steps to ensure goal realization
• Identify address procedural physical
  obstacles
• Making the physical social environment
  conducive
• Ensuring the physical implementation of
  initiative at all levels

• Relevance to what intended beneficiaries need
• Addressing social physical obstacles to needs
  realization (attending to literacy, technical
  support, affordability, safety).

• Presence of clear policy commitment to the
  objective at all levels (national, provincial,
  school level).
• Coherence in objectives of policies across
  initiative levels/ activity points
• Mutually supportive coherent procedures
  towards initiative realisation

• Actual technology, a relevant working format,
  be delivered to beneficiaries.
• Physical environment should support adequate
  functionality (space, energy, lights, right
  software, technical support, etc.

• Leadership - a central magnet that pulls the
  four pieces together.
• Be effective at all layers national,
  provincial, school level, all pulling towards one
  vision.
• It shapes the vision, process, attends to people
  needs, physically delivers tools, and coordinate
  measures for a continuous functionality for the
  realization of the common vision.

Mlitwa, N. Nonyane, J., 2008
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 10
6. Findings to Question 1
Table 2. Summary of results on the interviews conducted in the Mpumalanga Province Table 2. Summary of results on the interviews conducted in the Mpumalanga Province Table 2. Summary of results on the interviews conducted in the Mpumalanga Province Table 2. Summary of results on the interviews conducted in the Mpumalanga Province Table 2. Summary of results on the interviews conducted in the Mpumalanga Province Table 2. Summary of results on the interviews conducted in the Mpumalanga Province Table 2. Summary of results on the interviews conducted in the Mpumalanga Province Table 2. Summary of results on the interviews conducted in the Mpumalanga Province Table 2. Summary of results on the interviews conducted in the Mpumalanga Province Table 2. Summary of results on the interviews conducted in the Mpumalanga Province
Schools of Teachers of Teachers of Learners ICT Resources Indicators ICT Resources Indicators ICT Resources Indicators ICT Resources Indicators Learning program/s Source Deputy Principal DP Principal P Educator E
Schools in school Comp. literate of Learners of Computers Purpose of use Has Internet Technical Support Learning program/s Source Deputy Principal DP Principal P Educator E
Lowveld 55 20 1175 200 admin 8, teaching 192 Yes Provided by Company (CMS) Computer aided design(CAD) W. Steyn (DP) Urban
Klipspringer 15 3 333 6 admin 3, teaching 3 Yes Provided by Company None J.D Hogg (P) Urban
Mchaka 19 5 565 2 admin 2 No None None M.P Mabuza (P) Rural
Tiyimeleni 8 0 265 1 admin 1 No None None T. Hlatswayo (P) Rural
James Khoza 27 19 854 18 Admin 8, teaching 10 No Has Technician None N. Ntimane (DP) Rural
Bunny Khoza 29 4 970 21 admin 2, rest not used yet No None None I. Ntlamu (E) Rural
Nwankupana 15 3 604 1 admin 1 No None None V.E Nyambi (DP) Rural
Saringwa 10 0 282 0 None No None None B.M Khumalo (P) Rural
Luka 26 6 800 3 admin 3 No Has Technician None M.Mothapo (E) Rural
J.J Matsane 11 2 403 21 Admin 3, teaching 18 No None Painting C. Khoza (E) Rural
Mlitwa, N. Nonyane, J., 2008
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 11
Findings to Question 1, continued.
Table 3. Causes and implications of access or no access to ICT resources in Selected Schools in the Mpumalanga Province Table 3. Causes and implications of access or no access to ICT resources in Selected Schools in the Mpumalanga Province Table 3. Causes and implications of access or no access to ICT resources in Selected Schools in the Mpumalanga Province Table 3. Causes and implications of access or no access to ICT resources in Selected Schools in the Mpumalanga Province
ICT Resources Causes Implications Source
Has computers Donations (Dept. sports Culture, DELL, Telkom, PatCom College, Arise Business College). Grants (Spar). Own funding. Govt. Transnet. Learners are active, independent, creative. Downloading information researching on Internet. Presentation of information properly. Save time planning lessons also saves money. Teacher learner interact more Learners become computer oriented. Connect to areas across the world. N. Ntimane, W. Steyn, J.D Hogg, C. Khoza, M.P Mabuza
Has no computers Lack of funds No donor contact details Basic infrastructure main priority from school funds (e.g. Electricity classrooms). Vandalism theft. Loose out on e-learning also Low learner performance. No access to Govt. services. No Computer Science subject. No school community empowerment also Not cost effective. M.Mothapo, M.P Mabuza, T. Hlatswayo, B.M Khumalo
Has Internet Own funding. Download up to date information. Learners teachers communicate around the world. J.D Hogg, M.Mothapo, M.P Mabuza, W. Steyn
Has no Internet Lack of infrastructure (electricity and telephone lines) Lack of funds. Vandalism theft. Lag behind as technology is changing. Plan lessons manually. M.P Mabuza, V.E Nyambi, C. Khoza
Comp. Literate Teachers Own funding either from (school or educators) at higher institutions (Hoxane College of Education). Train each other. Plan lessons effectively, do schedules. Use rubric software generate rubrics. Impact on learner performance J.D Hogg, W. Steyn, N. Ntimane, C. Khoza.
Comp unskilled Teachers Lack of funds and time. No technological interaction with learner Poor presentation of lesson M.P Mabuza, J.D Hogg, T. Hlatswayo
Has Technical Support Own funding. Provided by company (CMS). Easy quick to fix problem Problem with companies also adds financial strain Has policy W. Steyn, N. Ntimane, J.D Hogg, C. Khoza
No Technical Support Lack of funds, Lack of relevant contacts, poor infrastructure (roads). Delay of service Time consuming C. Khoza, M.P Mabuza, V.E Nyambi
Explanatory notes Interviews conducted in September 2007 at the Mpumalanga Province. Explanatory notes Interviews conducted in September 2007 at the Mpumalanga Province. Explanatory notes Interviews conducted in September 2007 at the Mpumalanga Province. Explanatory notes Interviews conducted in September 2007 at the Mpumalanga Province.
Mlitwa, N. Nonyane, J., 2008
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 12
7. Findings to question 2
Despite a documented DoE commitment in terms of
the e-Education policy - to computerise schools,
rural schools remain under-resourced. Is the
policy successfully implemented? We were looking
answers to this uncertainty in question 2.
Using our framework to understand findings to
question 1, the leadership aspects across all
levels is clearly questionable. The national
vision is clear, but its articulation is not
equally clear at schools level. The needs of the
people (intended beneficiaries) must be clearly
identified addressed to ensuring successful
implementations (re - our framework). A lack of
literacy among teachers, inadequate space to
store and use computers, and security challenges
suggest inadequate attention to this aspect of
implementation. Our framework suggests physical
delivery of relevant functional tools. A lack
or undersupply of these in many schools, or the
supply of computers without programs suggest
inadequacy of tools. It is therefore logical to
explain inadequate resourcing of rural schools
with computers and other resources in terms of
poor policy implementations at government and
schools levels. From these analysis, conclusions
are drawn in the following slide.
Mlitwa, N. Nonyane, J., 2008
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 13
8. Conclusion

• Findings show rural (and largely back) schools to
  be severly under-resourced.
• Most either lack the physical infrastructure,
  software and skills for teachers and learners to
  use computers.
• Where computers exist, they are often
  quantitatively inadequate compared to the number
  of learners.
• In the best case, this often leads to more than
  five (5) learners sharing 1 computer per lesson
  which means that a single learner cannot take
  explorative initiatives without disturbing other
  learners.
• In the worst case, it means all learners, and no
  computers.
• The realization of the United Nations Millennium
  Goals to enhance literacy and education by 2015
• The World Summit on Information Society
  declarations on advancing the use of ICT for
  education in schools
• The NEPAD e-School Initiative undertakings to
  computerize all schools in Africa, and
• The e-Education Policy in South Africa to
  computerize all schools
• All remain utopian for the rural school under the
  status quo!!

Mlitwa, N. Nonyane, J., 2008
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The Status of ICT Access and Usage in South
African Schools Comparing the Rural and Urban
Schools in the Mpumalanga Province SLIDE 14
Conclusion, continued
Key factors necessary for a socio-technical
initiative such as the e-Education project to
succeed are evidently lacking. There is a gap in
leadership processes between the national,
provincial, and school levels. Whilst the
e-Education (national) policy exists, a lack of
clarity at school levels suggests inadequacy
vision at schools leadership level. It further
questions leadership efficiency at various
government levels. For example, attention to
conditions necessary for processes to succeed,
i.e. classrooms, electricity, security need
attention. To conclude then, a redress of
development inequalities should be fast-tracked,
beyond the policy agenda, into a tangible program
of action by all stakeholders in respective
education sectors. Providing ICT resources
(infrastructure, skills and technical support)
should be embedded with computer skills for
educators. Technical support, and measures to
protect the infrastructure are also necessary if
the objectives of the computerization of all
schools is to move from a dream into reality
for rural schools. The authors will encourage
reference to their analytical model discussed in
this work in implementing the e-Education policy.
Mlitwa, N. Nonyane, J., 2008