Summary

Background

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are widely believed to be important potential levers to introduce and sustain educational reform efforts, as well as useful aids to both teaching and learning.  However, despite evidence of increasingly widespread use of ICTs in education initiatives around the world, there is little guidance available for policy-makers and donor staff specifically targeted at developing countries contemplating the increased use of ICTs in education.

The key questions to be addressed by this activity are:

• How are ICTs currently being used in the education sector in India and South Asia, and what are the strategies and policies related to this use, notably best practices in policy and school case studies?
• What are the common challenges and constraints faced by South Asian countries in this area?
• What is actually happening on the ground, and to what extent are donors involved?

The survey should result in an overall report as well as a series of country studies for each of the eight countries in the South Asia region. In the special case of India, it is proposed that, in addition to the overall case, a series of detailed studies of individual states will be developed (say, at least five) to give a representative flavour of local developments. A similar approach may be followed in Pakistan. In addition, the report and case studies should be complemented by a series of thematic essays on topics of particular relevance to the region, such as gender, higher education, national research and education networks (NRENs) etc.

Data will be collected related to a variety of themes and could, for example, be divided into the following general categories:

• General state of ICT use in education
• National and regional policies & strategies
• How Ministries of Education (MOEs) treat ICT issues from an internal organizational and staffing perspective (including organograms of ICT responsibilities at the MOE), as well as their inter-relations with other governmental entities (e.g., Ministry of Employment, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry with responsibility for the ICT sector, etc.), as relevant/appropriate;
• Current levels of ICT access and use in the sector and the level of connectedness of schools, colleges, universities etc.
• Notable initiatives and programs, including best practice case studies;
• Important thematic topics, such as the development of NRENs or the treatment of gender in education;
• Constraints on the use of ICT in education, including on achieving a gender balance; 
• Donor activities;
• Use of ICTs in non-formal education and for skills development;
• Other notable and relevant information (e.g. gender, literacy);
• A resource base of additional information resources;
• A contacts database of experts and practitioners within the region that can assist in ongoing work.

Particular note will be made of how ICTs are used in education at various levels of an education system, namely:

• Primary education
• Secondary education
• Tertiary or Higher education
• Vocational education

Where information about ICT use to facilitate lifelong learning, distance learning and non-formal education is available, this should be included as well.

InfoDev has previously coordinated similar surveys of Africa and the Caribbean region.

You can download here the preliminary results from the Survey of ICTs for Education in India and South Asia.