ICT has been used as a model for
education in many parts of the world. At the end of the conflict in 2009, the
Government of Sri Lanka embarked on an e-Sri Lanka initiative aimed at
introducing ICT across several sectors. The education sector received
substantial investment in ICT however only a section of this sector was targeted.
This study explores the barriers of introducing and implementing ICT education
in the rural areas of Sri Lanka and how these barriers could be overcome.
The study was pursued by reviewing
published literatures of authors to identify barriers of introducing and
implementing ICT and also looked into suitable options for ICT implementation
and further focused on the sustainability of these models.
Given the unique characteristics
of the secondary education sector in Sri Lanka and in particular those in the
rural areas, the study required a focused data gathering process to understand
the factors that affect ICT in the rural schools. A set of questions were
developed using the literature review and three schools were assessed.This data
was used to develop into three unique case studies in order to understand the
unique characteristics that affect ICT in these rural schools and if they fall
in line with the variables identified in the literature review.
The analysis of the case studies
together with the variables identified from the literature review provided the
basis for developing the conceptual framework for the study. The target
population for this study were Teachers and Principals in the rural schools of
Trincomalee representing the rural population in Sri Lanka. A combined sample
of 70 teachers and principals were considered for this survey across 20 schools
in the district. A questionnaire was developed in line with the identified
variables to understand the prevailing context in the rural schools. The data
gathered was processed using SPSS Software. The results indicate that internet
access, resources, personnel and security are essential for introducing and
implementing ICT education in the rural areas.
The artefact was designed in line
with the results and tested at random and results are presented.
Background to the Research
Sri Lanka’s education sector is catered to by a mixture of
nation-wide network of state supported, private and international schools.
Primary enrolment of boys and girls is well above 90 per cent and secondary
enrolment rate stands at over 80 per cent making the country one of the more
successful nations in providing educational opportunities to all segments of
its population (World Bank, 2011).
However these statistics largely belie the severe vulnerability students’ face
in some of the more rural areas of the country.
For nearly three decades the country was plagued by a bitter
civil war that claimed the lives of thousands and destroyed the livelihoods of
many. In 2004, several coastal areas of the country were shattered by the
Indian Ocean Tsunami that further worsened the economic conditions of the
people.
In May 2009, the Sri Lankan Government declared the end to
the conflict with nearly 300,000 civilians being housed in temporary camps
waiting to be resettled back in their homes. The end of the war saw aid pouring
into the island, creating a platform for post war development.
Since then the Government has embarked on mega
infrastructure development projects; constructing roads, harbours and airports
with a view to increasing economic development. In line with his election
manifesto; the Mahinda Chinthanaya, (Department
of National Planning Ministry of Finance and Planning, 2006) the
President declared the year 2009 as the Year of English and IT as part of
encouraging the creation of a knowledge society in Sri Lanka (Ministry of Education, 2009).
The Government introduced the e-Sri Lanka Initiative together
with the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka to
develop the economy of Sri Lanka, reduce poverty and improve the quality of
life of the people (ICTA, 2009). Several
projects were implemented under this initiative under various sectors.
The ‘Nenasala’ (Knowledge Centre) Project implemented by the
Government together with the ICTA aims to provide Rural Knowledge Centres,
e-Libraries, Distance and e-Learning Centres and Tsunami Camp Computer Kiosks.
The initial phase of the project was implemented in 13 districts across the
island. However this particular project had a selection criterion; where the
selected division of the village needed to have a population of between
2000-5000 people, presence of a market with at least 15 wholesale vendors,
presence of electricity and a type 2 school with at least 300 students (Nenasala, n.d.).
This meant that nearly 50 per cent of the schools (4,910)
were not eligible to participate in the programme as they had less than 300
students (Ministry of Education, 2006).
The Ministry of Education together with the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) implemented the Secondary Education Modernization
Project (SEMP) aimed at connecting most of the secondary education schools and
other related organizations on a wide-area network (WAN). The initial phase of
the project was to connect 1000 schools, set up 100 computer resource centres
and 8 provincial ICT centres. The services offered included IP-VPN technology,
bandwidth connections, web hosting and filtering etc.
However in order for a school to join the project they
needed to have the most basic infrastructure such as computers. This meant that
most rural schools which did not possess this infrastructure were not part of
the project.
Therefore a large number of rural schools lack not only the
basic infrastructure for ICT education but basic educational requirements
itself, such as teachers. Through the use of ICT these gaps can be fulfilled to
a large extent depending on the type and nature of the problem at hand.
ICT has been used as a model for education in many parts of
the world. Despite the developed countries exploiting its use exponentially,
third world countries have been unable to keep up with the pace. (Valentine & Holloway, 2001) state that the potential
of ICT to alleviate rural marginality is also recognized in education funding
initiatives. The literature also suggests that ICT has been used in a variety
of areas and to suit different purposes and needs of the culture (Vorakulpipat
et al., 2010).
However the barriers vary from region to region
and sometimes from country to country. Despite this the application and use of
ICTs, have tremendous potential for improvements in every sector including
education(Mansotraet al., 2009). On a
broader perspective, researchers have found a few underlying reasons for the
lack of ICT in the rural areas
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