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"ICTs undoubtedly have the potential to reduce poverty, for example by enhancing education, health delivery, rural develop and entrepreneurship across Africa, Asia and Latin America. However, all too often, projects designed to do so fail to go to scale, and are unsustainable when donor funding ceas ... more

"This report has focused on predicting what basic education, the use of ICTs, and the ways that these technologies will contribute to education will look like by 2025, with a particular emphasis on the implication for those living in the most deprived locations. Three broad conclusions are appropria ... te. First, there is immense diversity, not only in education delivery but also in access to, and use of, ICTs. This will remain the case in 2025, and the resultant inequalities might well be very much worse than they are today. If current trends continue, then the use of technologies by the rich will be markedly different from the use of ICTs by the poor. The most deprived will continue not to have access to ICTs, will continue not to benefit from them, and will become relatively more disadvantaged. However, millions of slightly better off poor people will indeed be able to benefit from the potential that existing ICTs will be able to deliver over the next decade, especially in terms of access to educational content that may enable them to live more fulfilled lives. Second, for education systems to be improved, especially for the poorest and most marginalised children, there must be a fundamental rethinking of the vision for education in almost every country of the world. Educational change is slow, but some of those consulted for this report were optimistic, and thought that the pressure for change will soon become so high that governments will have to respond by instigating fundamental reforms. These, though, will be very expensive, and it still remains unclear how they will be funded and implemented. While the ICT sector is still likely to experience much rapid innovation, it is much more probable that the education sector will only evolve slowly. It is therefore also important that these technologies are used to enhance opportunities for learning everywhere, even where the education systems are slow to evolve. Third, there have indeed been many exciting and innovative uses of technology within education over the last two decades, and some of these are already being applied in contexts of both physical and socio-cultural deprivation. However, all too often those implementing ICTs initiatives in the education sector focus primarily on the technologies, rather than the education. If technology is indeed to be used to support learning, both in school and out of it, there needs to be a complete reversal of much current practice. The focus must be first on the education, and only then on the various technologies that can help deliver it." (Conclusions, page 20) more

"This chapter extends a critical perspective on the economic impact of the Internet to the study of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for development, concentrating on the effects of the Internet on the lives of some of the poorest people and most marginalized communities. The disti ... more

"Internet Studies has been one of the most dynamic and rapidly expanding interdisciplinary fields to emerge over the last decade. The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies has been designed to provide a resource in this area, bringing together scholarly perspectives on how the Internet has been studie ... more

Digital Economies at Global Margins
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Reclaiming Information and Communication Technologies for Development

The Future of Learning and Technology in Deprived Contexts

The Internet and Development: A Critical Perspective

The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies

ICT4D: Information and Communication Technology for Development
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Monitoring and Evaluation of ICT in Education Projects: A Handbook for Developing Countries

Digital Economies at Global Margins Top Insights