Chapter 11.8
IT and Educational Policy in the North Africa and the Middle East Region
Amr Ibrahim
The American University, Cairo
Abstract:North African countries include Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. Gulf countries are Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Oman. Other countries in the region include Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, and Israel. Although the use of communication facilities using IT is growing very substantially in the region, the expenditures in the educational sector are probably insufficient to educate the users about how to use IT facilities for learning. Middle East and North-African countries are starting to embrace IT integration in education and training. The Gulf countries and Israel at the infusing level of policy, while the other countries in the region are at the applying-policy level. Infrastructure investments need to be balanced with investments in digital content development and staff training.
Keywords:Digital divide,-learning, e-readiness, IT infrastructure, Life-long learning, Technology diffusion, IT policy, North Africa, Middle East.
11.8.1 Socio-Economic, Educational, and Cultural Context
The pace of globalization today is faster and more sweeping than in previous times in history, a trend that is forcing education to react. The emergence of Internet and the use of e-learning in this chapter the term e-learning is used to globally describe the use of IT in education--implies that a greater part of the earth’s population is now engaged, at least potentially, in a global approach to education and training. The continuing rapid change in the computing infrastructure, the Internet, and through multimedia computing and communication has a great impact on the educational system. This evolution in the educational process is a major issue of concern in most developing countries and also for the Middle East and North Africa region, which consists of 18 Arab-speaking countries and Israel.
The public and corporate sectors need the most advanced skills and the most updates of equipment and access to training in order to remain competitive.Government, institutes in the Middle East and North Africa, and policy makers are acknowledging the potential downside of the rapid pace of globalization in relation to the need for integrating IT in their educational and training systems and the impact of globalization on change in skills development.
There are many perspectives to describe the socio-economic, educational, and cultural context of a region. An interesting perspective, especially related to IT, is the so-called e-readiness index. The journal ‘The Economist’, and in particular its Intelligence Unit (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2006) has published an annual e-readiness ranking of the word's largest economies since 2000. "E-readiness" refers to a country's ability to take advantage of the Internet as an engine of economic growth and human development. E-readiness has several components, including telecommunications infrastructure, human resources, and legal and policy frameworks. An e-readiness assessment can be used as an information-gathering mechanism for countries as they plan their strategies for IT development. It can help a society better understand what impediments to Internet development exist and what initiatives are needed to overcome them. Currently 68 countries are assessed on their ability to promote and support digital business and information and communications technology (IT) services. The ranking allows governments to gauge the success of their technology initiatives against those of other countries. Table 11-8-1 reflects the 2005 and 2006 e-readiness rankings of selected Middle East and North African countries.
Table 11-8-1
E-readiness ranking of selected Middle East and North African countries
2006 rank in region / 2005 rank in region / Country / Overall ranking (of 68) / E-readiness score (of 10)1 / 1 / Israel / 22 / 7.59
2 / Not ranked / United Arab Emirates (UAE) / 30 / 6.32
3 / 2 / South Africa / 35 / 5.74
4 / 3 / Turkey / 45 / 4.77
5 / 4 / Saudi Arabia / 46 / 4.67
6 / Not ranked / Jordan / 54 / 4.22
7 / 5 / Egypt / 55 / 4.14
8 / 6 / Nigeria / 60 / 3.69
9 / 7 / Algeria / 63 / 3.32
10 / 8 / Iran / 65 / 3.15
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit, 2006
Based on the above criteria and ranking in Table 11-8-1 it is clear that most Middle East and North African countries lag behind the rest of the world. In addition, the gap between the North African and Middle East countries and other countries in the world has increased over the last decade, fitting the general observation of a (digital) divide between the North and the South (United Nations Development Program [UNDP], 2006a). Specific data about priorities in public spending (see Table 11-8-2) and the diffusion and creation of technology (see Table 11-8-3) illustrate the problem. Table 11-8-2 illustrates that many countries in the ten countries sampled spend much more money on military than on education.
Table 11-8-2
Priorities in public spending, selected countries in the region
Israel / Kuwait / UAE / Saudi Arabia / Lebanon / Jordan / Tunisia / Syria / EgyptPublic expenditure on health / 6.1 / 2.7 / 2.5 / 2.5 / 3 / 4.2 / 2.8 / 2.5 / 2.2
Public Expenditure on Education / 7.3 / 8.2 / 1.6 / n/a / 2.6 / n/a / 8.1 / n/a / n/a
Military Expenditures / 8.7 / 7.9 / 2.4 / 8.3 / 3.8 / 9.9 / 1.5 / 6.9 / 2.8
Adopted from Raphali, 2002
Table 11-8-3 illustrates the enormous growth between 1990 and 2003 of vital means of telecommunications, including mainline telephones, cellular telephones and Internet users. The growth in the use of cellular phones is phenomenal while the growth in the number of users of Internet is substantial, but not across the board. The numbers for Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and Egypt are low, although in the case of Syria the low number of Internet users may reflect the nature of the regimes in some countries which seek to keep their populations isolated from outside influence.
Table 11-8-3
Table 3: Technology diffusion and creation in the region
(numbers per 1000 inhabitants)
Israel / Kuwait / UAE / Saudi Arabia / Lebanon / Jordan / Tunisia / Syria / EgyptTel. Mainline 1990 / 349 / 156 / 224 / 75 / 144 / 78 / 37 / 39 / 29
Tel. mainline 2004 / 441 / 202 / 275 / 154 / 178 / 113 / 121 / 143 / 130
Cellular subscribers 1990 / 3 / 10 / 19 / 1 / 0 / [1] / [1] / 0 / [1]
Cellular subscribers 2003 / 1,057 / 813 / 853 / 383 / 251 / 293 / 359 / 126 / 105
Internet users 2003 (0 in 1990) / 471 / 244 / 321 / 66 / 169 / 110 / 84 / 43 / 54
Adopted from Raphali, 2003
The data in Tables 11-8-2 and 11-8-3 lead to the conclusion that, although the use of communication facilities using IT is growing very substantially in the Middle East and North African region’s countries, the expenditures in the educational sector are probably insufficient to educate the users about how to use these facilities for the benefits of learning. One possible solution to prevent that these countries fall even further behind in using information and high technology is to invest in using technology in education. The importance of this can also be seen in the fact that Arab Gross Domestic product (GDP) as a percentage of the world GDP is fast declining. For example, Oil-rich Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, and Qatar collectively produce goods and services (mostly oil) worth $500 billion; while Spain alone produces goods and services worth over $1 trillion, Poland $489 billion, and Thailand $545 billion.
No sector of the economy is impervious to the progress of IT, and every sector has the potential to benefit from progress in IT. However, in and of itself, IT investment is unlikely to generate significant productivity gains; it needs to be accompanied by investments in training, organizational design, and collaboration.
11.8.2 Rationales and Factors Influencing a Policy about IT in Education
In recent time, the countries in the Middle East and North Africa evolved from a long history of colonization. At the same time serious civil unrest is still going on in many countries of this region which does not create a suitable environment for nurturing education and stability.
Political leaders, employers, and the public are expressing an unprecedented level of concern with the state of education in Egypt. At the beginning of the 21st century the educational system is not ready to generate the skill competencies needed by the globalization of the world economy.
A new willingness to consider fundamental changes and innovative approaches is apparent in the current wave of reform efforts that involve legislatures, business coalitions, teachers, colleges of education, and school administrators (World Education Services, 2007). These educators, policy makers, and citizens are now seriously debating the structural reforms that would have seemed wildly idealistic just a decade ago. Many critics of the current Egyptian educational institutions view technology as an important driver for generating the kind of revolutionary changes called for in the new reform efforts. Having seen the ways in which technology has transformed the workplace, and, indeed, most of the region’s communications and commercial activities, the business community and the public in general are exerting pressure for comparable changes within the education system. One possible solution for enhancement of the education infrastructure is the integration of IT and the shift from conventional methods of teaching to innovate, interactive multimedia and teaching methods and techniques (Youssef, 2007. The primary motivation for using technology in education is the firm belief that it will stimulate learning. Research and development educational programs, such as the Egyptian Education Initiative (World Economic Forum, 2006), have emphasized the use of new technologies in learning and management systems, content development, and for applying new pedagogical models. The main objective for the integration of IT is to find better tools and media for enhancement of educational systems. In this respect, several institutes such as the American University of Cairo have developed and integrated e-learning and IT technology for management of courses and electronic communication by the Internet.
The issues raised above are relevant to most Middle East and North African countries except for a few rich Gulf countries which are investing heavily in the educational system infrastructure and IT. The following paragraphs describe in a global the initiatives taken by the different countries of the region.
Several initiatives in North Africa and the Middle East have been developed recognizing e-learning and integration of IT in education as a tool for educational development and enhancement. At the start of the 21st century Middle East and North-
African countries are starting to embrace IT integration in education and training. However, often no clear policy or strategy has yet been implemented, but initiatives and procedures emerge which harness IT policy development. Examples of programs and pilot projects can be found in Oman (Knowledge Oasis Muscat, 2006); Jordan (Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation Jordan,2004); Syria (Albirini, 2004); Lebanon (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 2003, 2006b);Israel (Fisher & Jacob, 2006); Qatar (ICTQatar, 2005); Bahrain ( Kingdom of Bahrain Ministry of Education, 2004); United Arab Emirates (Digital Opportunity Channel 2007);Saudi Arabia (Nair, 2006); Kuwait (Digital Opportunity Channel, 2007); Palestine (Hammad, 2005); and Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia (United Nations Economic Commission on Africa, 2005b).
In addition to the implementation of IT in education through forms of e-learning, many of the countries in the region still require improvements of their general IT policies and strategies. The biggest challenges are weak policy and implementation capacity, opposition from vested interests, and persistent obstacles to adoption of IT. Many countries also lack adequate tools to plan, monitor, and control, evaluate, and guide investments in IT and connectivity (United Nations Economic Commission on Africa, 2005a). One possible solution is benchmarking IT data and monitoring trends, themes, and programs supporting IT such as done by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Middle East and North Africa developing countries. (UNDP, 2006a, b).
Timely and relevant policy announcements and guidelines help to foster IT penetration aiming at greater socio-economic gains and growth. Steps like deregulation, encouraging private participation, tax and duty incentives, and wise spending of resources all help to integrate IT with national goals and its fulfillment. Public investment is a critical policy measure in many countries to develop the IT infrastructure.
11.8.3 Specific Policies about IT in Education
The main requirements for e-learning and IT-in-education policy development in the Northern Africa and Middle East region are:
-Social and cultural issues(interaction, collaboration, and communities of practice).
-Physical issues(tools, facilities and services, bandwidth, and browser versions).
-Content issues(themes, subjects and levels, pedagogical approaches).
-Political and economic issues(commitment of management and cost) (Nasrand Ibrahim, 2007).
In addition the attitudes and competencies of learners toward IT needs to be determined to be able to develop appropriate and timely IT policies for countries in North Africa and the Middle East.
Several initiatives to provide IT to the Middle East and North Africa region have been initiated and supported by governments and international funding agencies. Other initiatives are the Competence Centre, PC for the Community Initiative, Free Internet Initiative, Broadband Initiative, the National eStrategy for Lebanon (United Nations Development Programme, 2003), and conferences and workshops These initiatives include the creation of Smart Schools Networked Learning in Egypt, where IT was introduced in schools (Halouda, 2005) focusing both on infrastructure and applications in order to qualify teachers to obtain the International Computer Driving License (ICDL) and to improve teaching and educational methods.
By using the framework proposed by Moonen (2008) clusters of counties in the Middle East and North African region can be situated with respect to the implementation of their IT-in-education policy, taking into account the initiatives referred to in the previous sections of this chapter. Table 11-8-4 presents the status of implementation of IT policy of the various clusters of
Table 11-8-4
A summary of IT implementation in the Middle East and North Africa region
No policy yet / Emerging of policy / Applying policy / Infusing policy / Transforming education by policyNational/subnational policy document for IT in education / NA, AC / G, IS
Master plan with a time frame / NA, AC / G, IS
Budget plan and appropriations
Organizational structure responsible for implementing the master plan / NA, AC / G, IS
Monitoring an evaluation scheme or mechanism / G, IS
Statement of inclusion of women, minorities and those with special needs in IT policy
Manner by which the country and schools implement IT for education if no IT policy exists
Legend: NA for North African countries (Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco); GC for Gulf Countries (Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman), AC for other Arab Countries (Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan), IS for Israel.
11.8.4 Reflections and Future Steps to Improve Policy about IT in Education
It can be predicted that e-learning will emerge as part of the future utility-services provision for education, just as utilities for electricity in educational campuses and institutes. For example, Al-Wakra Independent School for Girls in Qatar, book learning has been replaced by eSchoolbag learning. Portable and filled with information covering various subjects, these portable computers (Tablet PCs) let students take notes digitally, and then share and edit the information electronically.
The tablets are not just electronic notebooks. They're packed with materials on science, math and English mapped to Qatari curriculum standards. They can be customized by teachers to fit individual student's needs.
Students can use the Tablet PCs to work independently in the classroom and at home, deepening their understanding of subjects. eSchoolbags also allow students to interact with teacher’s day or night.
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore - an e-learning pioneer - is working with ictQATAR to introduce eSchoolbag in Qatar's schools, as well as train instructors in technical and teaching skills.
In this respect, we will see e-learning and IT integration in education provided on digital TV networks on demand and the customer can subscribe to a set of topics and disciplines that will be accessible through a Personal Learning Environment (E-learning Guild, 2006; Medhat, 2005). More innovation will be demonstrated as the Internet, digital broadcast media, and, video telecommunications become more integrated.
In order to prepare for the integration of e-learning, Egypt, for example, is adopting a Scandinavian model indicated as one of the best performance examples of e-readiness (Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in Egypt, 2006). The model is based on innovation and leadership as the result of the ability to embrace change, shift priorities, and the courage to make tough choices. The Middle East and North African countries must realize that innovation is a societal phenomenon, a collective task, largely carried by the private sector. Taking the Scandinavian model as an example, the following are the key lessons learned: education, skills development, and life-long learning must be at the centre of an innovative economy.
In conclusion,it is important that the technology infrastructure does not become a key inhibitor for pursuing e-learning. At the same time, any infrastructure investments should be balanced with digital content development, and staff training to enable teachers to use e-learning materials related to their learners needs. In addition, learning content that is generated needs to be stored, registered, evaluated, and integrated into an e-library (Digital Empowerment Foundation, 2006).
North-African and Middle East governments, professional bodies, and educational networks in the region could do moreto promote e-learning solutions as part of their national skills development and lifelong learning strategies. In addition, there are clear strategic opportunities for collaborative developments of best practice in order to minimize the amount of overlap and maximize cooperation between organizations, governments, and institutes, in content development at the various educational levels.
The Middle East and North African educational institutes are entering a new world that is global, entrepreneurial, and competitive. Accordingly, instituting the appropriate policy, vision, and leadership, and investing in the future, the Northern Africa and Middle East region maybe will be able to follow and participate in the technological shift and globalization.
E-learning allows educators and institutes to move from the industrialized model of the instruction to an “any time and place” model of learning. A school that is contained by time and space will be an old model and unable to compete in the globalization of the educational process that is based on a 24-7 learning model. In this respect, it is important to emphasize that laws, procedures, infrastructure; attitudes are needed to support a knowledge economy.