Gabon seeks Nepad support

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 17 Apr 2008

Gabon wants to strengthen ties with the Nepad e-Africa Commission, and has asked the commission to evaluate the feasibility of implementing the Nepad e-schools initiative in Libreville, as a matter of urgency.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Nepad e-schools stakeholder conference, held in Kempton Park, yesterday, Gabon education minister Michel Menga said his government committed three billion Gabonese francs (R53.27 million) to a three-year e-schools initiative.

Gabon is one of the signatories of the Nepad e-schools initiative, along with Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda.

Its e-schools initiative did not get off the ground, due to lack of coordination within government, lack of resources to build the ICT learning centres and the general education challenges the country faces, said Menga.

In terms of coordination at government level, Gabon had to deal with the fact that there were too many stakeholders who had to be consulted.

The relationship with Nepad is managed by the Department of Trade and Industry, ICT is managed by the Department of Communications and education issues fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Education, he said.

However, the project enjoys the support of the head of state and Gabon is committed to moving forward, he added.

The project is also part of Gabon`s national strategy to provide connectivity at all its schools and tertiary institutions.

Menga noted that Gabon has 60 schools in total, and none of them have PC/Internet connectivity, as it was deemed to be expensive. The government wants to connect one major school in each province, to start with.

Gabon also wants to introduce ICT tools into the education system to empower teachers and assist administrators with the management of teachers and learners, he said.

The Department of Education also needs to monitor students more effectively, as absenteeism is a big problem, Menga noted.