Celtel Tanzania re-brands as Zain

CELTEL Tanzania has joined its sister companies in Africa and the Middle East in adopting the brand name Zain as part of re-branding the entire African operations from Celtel, one of the leading mobile telecommunication service operators in Africa and the Middle East. Before the re-branding exercise that came to a close recently, the Kuwait mobile operator was trading in 14 African markets as Celtel International. Speaking recently at a press conference in Dar es Salaam, the Chief Operating Officer for Zain East Africa Region-in Charge of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Madagascar Mr. Bashar .T. Arafeh, said that Zain would continue to support education because they want to help people to have a wonderful life that they had had planned to have before, however he added that his company has closed an older chapter and embarked on a greater journey ahead. ”We are expanding what was the most extensive network in Tanzania to make a deeper impact on the lives of subscribers” he affirmed. As from the time the new name was announced, all Zain pre-paid and post-paid customers in Africa and the Middle East using the one network service started to enjoy the benefits of being treated as local customers wherever they are. The company operates in 22 countries with a customer base of over 50 million subscribers. Mr. Bashar note that his newly reformed firm (Zain) now hosts a total of three million active customers in Tanzania which is about 40 per cent of the total market share. Last year, the Zain Group made gross revenue of $265 million and $52 million net profit. The company said in a statement that the new name is more colorful and targets mass markets, with the slogan shifting to a wonderful world from making life better for all of the 22 operations of the group worldwide.

The Chief Operating Officer for Zain East Africa Region-in Charge of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Madagascar Mr. Bashar .T. Arafeh,

The move is aimed at unifying the company’s 22 operations to become one of the leading borderless networks in the world. This is in line with the group’s goal to make the mobile operator one of the top 10 global networks by 2011, the statement noted. One network plan started in 2006 when Celtel started to offer its services to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and by last June, it expanded network services to Congo, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Niger, Nigeria, Gabon, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi and Madagascar. This made the customer base reach 28 million customers across Africa. Plans are underway to bring Ghana in the one network service by end of this year, bringing the total number of countries under the scheme to 15, it said. Mr Bashar said the company plans to add Saudi Arabia into the one network service by the end of next year. This is due to the huge number of Tanzanians in the Middle East demanding that the service be extended into that zone, he pointed out. In the next five years, Zain plans to invest an extra $500 billion as part of its commitment of improving the rural network infrastructure, he added. Although it has re-branded its entire African operations from Celtel to Zain, the company’s management has vowed it would continue to support the education sector in Tanzania and elsewhere. In particular, Zain would continue to support artists in Africa further improve their talents in music and culture, he noted. Zain Brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC, which is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange trading as Stock Ticker. The firm has a market capitalization of over USD 25.8 billion as of June 30th 2008.

Zain’s current headquarter building, the firm had acquired the premises from the former Tanzania Posts and Teleccommunications Corporartions (TPTC) which is located along New Bagamoyo Road opposite COSTECH headquarter building at Kijitonyama in Dar es Salaam.

Zain is currently serving over 35 million customers on the African continent, and has resolved to help the continent achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Last year, the firm donated millions of dollars worth of books and educational supplies to most government owned schools in Africa. Similarly, the firm has partnered with international establishments in bringing telephony to 400,000 people in remote areas of Africa and has many community projects across both continents. Zain’s financial results for 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 were splendid, despite fierce competition in many markets it operates. It crossed the 50 million customer milestone, as well as recording consolidated revenues of USD 3.488bn, an increase of 26 percent compared to the first quarter of 2007. Zain was established in 1983 in Kuwait as the region’s first mobile operator and was known as MTC until September 2007. From modest beginnings in Kuwait, the firm now has more than 16,000 employees serving over 50 million customers in 15 African and seven Middle Eastern Countries including Ghana and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where the company has promised would be launching its mobile telecommunications networks in the coming months. In Africa Zain operates 14 countries that includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Operations in Ghana will begin in October this year.

THE 12TH HIGHWAY AFRICA CONFERENCE IS HERE TO COME:

A MAJOR continental conference on the new media facilities and communication issues for journalists in Africa is here to come. It’s called Highway Africa Conference which is going on its twelfth year of growth and achievement later in September this year in a small historic town of Grahamstown in South Africa. The place has been a traditional venue of this important African journalists’ gathering since its first conference held in 1997. The conference facilitates the move in bridging African media communication gap and African journalism and ICTs. The maiden conference started with only 67 delegates who participated and now, as per the last year’s gathering, this number has increased over ten times almost to 701 delegates. This shows that, its vision has given rise to the development concept of the forum. This year’s slogan “Citizen Journalism, journalism for citizens” will focus on the emergence of citizen journalism. Through formal presentations, participants will address the goals of journalism in society and how citizen journalism fits within those goals. Stakeholders will discuss issues related to the problems affecting the development of modern communication and new media facilities such as the internet, mobile phones, radios, TVs and their uses as they are applied in the African media industry. The occasion is to comprehensively inform and educate African journalists about pivotal issues and how the media practice is a major factor in finding innovative ways to bridge the digital divide plus the growing gap between countries that have access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

The administration block of Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. The department of Journalism and Media Studies at the University has been hosting an annual ICT meeting for African journalists across African continent in every September since 1997.

This is an annual event that is organized by the department of Journalism and Media Studies of Rhodes University located in Grahamstown and co-hosted by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Its main objective is to shape an African information society within the global economy. The conference offers training on how to better cover issues related to technology, and also how to better use technology in their reporting. The event also helps African journalists’ network with their colleagues from across the continent share experiences. Apart from training, there are also a number of side events that takes place alongside such as book launches, exhibitions, presenting annual awards to news media, individuals and companies that use technology in creative and innovative ways. Since its inception, the growth of new media facilities among African journalists has more than doubled. Communication between journalists on the continent has increased substantially and each country in Africa is now online. The conference has been adopting various themes in a bid to highlight the importance of the ICTs use and other developmental aspects of it especially for the rural community development as a whole, particularly with regards to harnessing new technologies as well as the crucial role that new media has played in democracy and development. One of the focal points to note on the conference’s strategies is the plan to strengthen the communication technology revolution to all humanity by connecting developing countries with technology boosting internet security. Being an annual conference, it has been promoting awareness within the African media context through seminars and workshops over the use of the ICTs. Its roles in the last twelve years has proved valuable to the furtherance of communication on the continent’s information society. Today the new media in Africa stands at the foothills of an exciting new era. With a great demand for the innovation and advancement of information technologies and telecommunications throughout the world, it has an exciting future to look forward to.

A cross section of delegates during the official opening of the past meeting session of the Highway Africa Conference, this is at Eden Grove Red conference hall.

In 2003, the conference with the help of the Dept of Journalism and Media studies of the Rhodes University formed a news agency which to a greater extent has played a significant role in mainstreaming the media in terms of information giving though its website www.highwayafrica.ac.za/hana In practice, the agency has helped to develop the requisite knowledge attitudes and practices in the African media. It has clarified and highlighted issues faced by African journalists and the role it plays in extreme coverage of the events for a range of ICTs for the media and for the African audience. In recent years, the agency actively participated in the two phase of the global information summit in Geneva (2003) and in Tunis (2005) respectively. It has drawn a number of African journalists who makes a significant contribution of the ICT stories to the African audience. Professor Guy Berger who is the principal architect of the Highway Africa forum, is also the head of the School of Journalism & Media Studies at Rhodes University. He founded the new media lab in 1996, which in turn gave rise to Highway Africa project.

Professor Guy Berger, Head of the dept of Journalism and Media Studies of Rhodes University.

According to him, the mission and vision of this important conference is to have a vibrant and growing network of African journalists empowered to advance democracy and development through their understanding and use of appropriate technologies. The main functions of the conference are to sensitize African journalists about the role of information and communications technology in society and the media, to train journalists and journalism teachers in understanding and using technology to access, generate and distribute information. To build a network of journalists, and to link this with key stakeholders (academics, policy makers, civil society etc). Advocacy for a media and technology environment which enables journalists to play their full role in democracy and development. To research the use and impact of the ICTs in Africa with particular reference to the media, and lastly to publish and disseminate research and information across a range of platforms. Highway Africa in 1997 had a two fold objectives to show African journalism what is possible on the internet and secondly to empower delegates with skills to make the most of the new medium. The conference has been adopting various slogans since it started with the fist slogan “New media 2000” reflected what new technology the new millennium would bring through the year 2000 by then seemed too far away. In 1998, the slogan “Bringing the Highway South” was a forerunner to the need to bridge the digital divide. The main focus of the conference was on using the internet as a research tool and as a means of empowering. “Internet Media and Democracy” the slogan for 1999 suggested that new media has a responsibility beyond bedazzling users with clever tricks. There was broad agreement that technology has a role to play in promoting and safeguarding democracy. At the Highway Africa conference in 2000, the years was hailed as the dawn of “Africa’s new media century” as delegates debated the role of African media in the global information society, online African content and community media online. In that year, journalists and students put together a newsroom of the future as an experimental exercise in covering the conference itself. The year 2000 also saw the first live broadcast of the conference’s awards for the innovative use of new media technology. In 2001, Highway Africa was about “Digital Renaissance” where participants aimed to go beyond the wired internet and to explore content on wireless devices such as cell phones. Day five of the conference was described as on the move. African journalism in the cellular age. The conference coincided with the September 11th terrorist attacks on the USA twin towers trade centers, the incident claimed lives of more than 5,000 innocent people. But the tragic events of New York and Washington did not detract from the success of the conference.

A photograph depicting a thick black smoke billowing over the skies from a twin tower building of the World Trade Center after a terrorist attack that involved a plane crash in New York city. The two buildings were completely destroyed and reduced to ashes killing an estimated 5,000 innocent people that morning of the 11th September 2001.

Highway Africa moved out of its traditional home of Grahamstown for the first time in 2002 to coincide with the hosting of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, even the slogan “Wiring journalism for sustainable development” was designed to mesh with the aims and objectives of the high profile summit. Preparing African journalism for the world summit on the information society (WSIS) was the principal focus of the conference in 2003 with the slogan “Mainstreaming media in the information society”. Delegates in Grahamstown meeting understood that Africans would learn about this vital important conference through the eyes and ears of first world journalists. All stories about the regulation and structuring of information and communication technologies would be interpreted from European and American perspectives. It was out of this concern that Highway Africa News Agency (HANA) was conceived and a new force covering ICTs for Africans made its mark. The agency covered the final prepcom for the first phase of the summit in Geneva and eventually the summit itself in December of that year. HANA has since reported on several conferences in Europe, Asia and Africa during the second phase of WSIS in Tunis, Tunisia. In 2004 the conference slogan was “Media making the Information Society” a notion that resonated with the objectives of news organizations throughout the continent. Having reached a degree of maturity, it was then possible for Highway Africa Director, Mr. Chris Kabwato to say “ it has now been confirmed beyond doubt that Highway Africa is the undisputed premier annual gathering at the continent’s journalists”.

Mr. Chris Kabwato, the Director of Highway Africa Conference.

In 2005 was the ninth edition of Highway Africa focused delegates on “Reinforcing journalism in the information society”. The trend continued within the conference to place an emphasis on journalism and give less importance to the technology as delegates debated the meaning of African journalism. The tenth Highway Africa conference in 2006 with the slogan “Celebrations, Reflections and future Directions” had much to celebrate and even more to reflect on as its various stakeholders took decisions on future directions Generally speaking, the conference is the best example of great hope for Africa and the media in a bid to highlight the importance of the ICTs use and other developmental aspects of it especially for the rural community development as a whole, particularly with regards to harnessing new technologies as well as the crucial role that new media has played in democracy and development.

Information access is still a great challenge for rural Tanzania

ALTHOUGH the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) has changed the political face of Tanzania by making information more vibrant and transparent, the tools have never been doing a serious job in the fight for poverty, increase education and improve health services in most rural communities in the country.
With the power of ICTs, still many rural communities in Tanzania lacks crucial information related to the awareness of HIV/AIDS spread and ways to tackle the pandemic. About 80 percent of Tanzania rural population lives in dire poverty in some of the most marginalized communities. People in these areas faces challenges brought about because of the poor infrastructure exacerbated by bad roads and as a result, ICT services in these areas are not efficient. It’s easy to see under the already compounded situation how difficult it is for people living in these circumstances to align themselves with the ICTs of the challenging world. ICTs are very important in spreading democracy and contributing towards development. But for communities in rural Tanzania, the question is “how can people benefits from ICTs” Tanzanians depend on rural economy to pursue their intended development goals and about 80 percent of the national economic development is largely contributed by people living in rural areas. Despite of the efforts shown by some, still the basic use of the available information superhighways which are to help them speed up their development processes are limited an aspect that accounts for the low levels of their production capacity. Various ICT stakeholders have attributed the reasons for being lack of knowledge as well as negligence by the government which they accuse to have not yet sufficiently addressed the ICTs issues for the specific developments and their importance in general. Basic communications such as internet surfing is by far a major demand as of present, but for a number of reasons its expansion to more remote rural areas is very scanty. The accessibility of other ICT gadgets such as faxes, mobile phones, TV stations and their satellites are less established or not established at all in most rural areas. A cell phone needs electricity to charge, lack of infrastructure means no electricity, thus there are no cell phones. Who can spend money on a newspaper or a magazine when the majority of the people can’t even afford to buy food and soap?

Let the old people in rural communities have access to the ICT tools. Basic communications such as internet surfing is by far a major demand as of present, but for a number of reasons its expansion to more remote rural areas is very scanty.

Media outlets in the country have tried their level best to reach out to rural communities in their roles to inform, educate and entertain, but their efforts have been constrained owing to poor infrastructural facilities which can be found in these regions. Once again, however poverty has been a major obstacle and most people live from hand to mouth in a daily basis. This makes difficult for them to afford even the smallest and cheapest radio set. Radio is the easiest and cheapest way for rural dwellers to learn of the changing world and it remains a dominant ICT tool. The internet is another cheap way to access information and communicate, but in Tanzanian rural areas, this is still a nightmare. Most of the districts in the country do not have internet services. Statistics shows that, out of over 250 districts found in the country, about 16 districts have no electricity power supply from the national electricity grid. Despite the current development with increased coverage in bigger townships in urban centers and along several main highways, still the majority of the people residing in most remote rural areas of Tanzania do not get reliable internet connection. There is a preconception that the risk of establishing viable ICT such as mobile telecommunication in rural areas is too high. Some of the reasons include the investment budget, plans and the need to cover very big areas by mobile operator and other relevant investors. But on the other hand, general knowledge on IT service applications and the basic communication possibilities with mobile phones is limited. To achieve a reliable communication network, most people have regularly or often preferred mobile phones even in areas where there is no easily accessible connection. Most of those who are business oriented regularly operate mobile phones even if they are only for usage when they are in towns. The radio is the beast form of communication as it is cheaper to afford and communities do not need to be literate in order to feel the impact of the message. Unlike the internet and television which needs stable infrastructure. The devices enables poor people to resolve their isolation as they have no other reliable access to information. Television sets can support participatory development as well as allow the voices of the rural people to be heard through a range of options that can be operated provided it should have an \elaborate means of a stable infrastructure. But to the great extent, most television channels viewed by people from far flung areas in the country, do not get clear images compared to viewers who are closer to the city of Dar es Salaam where most television stations are based. Study has established that, a television viewer in Tarime district in far northern part of the country and that of Newala district in Mtwara region in Southern tip of the country or in Muleba district in Kagera region far in western horizon, have to connect their television sets with a satellite antennas in order to get a reflection of clear images. Without these antennas, TV connections is a big problem. This shows that, TV infrastructure in the country is not stable.

ICT to help curb teachers’ shortage in Tanzania

Tanzania government is to start using mobile phones and computers to mitigate the effects of an acute shortage of teachers in its primary and secondary schools. The Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Prof Jumanne Maghembe, said recently in Dar es Salaam that the plan involved distant learning through mobile phones messages and computer generated classes. He said the Government would from October start using information technology (IT) as an alternative method to tackle the shortage of teachers in the country. Speaking during the handing over of nearly 100,000 books worth Tshs. 2.45 billion to aid 75 schools, Prof Maghembe said the IT project would start as a pilot study before being rolled out to other needy areas. The books were donated by the Brothers Brother Foundation, a 50-year-old charity based in the US. He said about 200 primary schools would benefit from the IT programme. They are located in Lindi, Kisarawe and Bagamoyo districts, which all face an acute shortage of teachers. The minister said if successfully implemented, the project would mark a turning point in Tanzania’s goal of ensuring quality teaching aimed at improving education standards. The programme, he added, would also use projectors to reach more pupils. The projectors would be operated from one control centre manned by a few instructors.

The Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Professor Jumanne Maghembe in a meeting with stakeholders. Tanzania government would from October start using information technology (IT) as an alternative method to tackle the shortage of teachers in the country.

Tanzania is experiencing an acute shortage of teachers in both primary and secondary schools, with the latter facing a shortfall of some 40,000 new teachers. Prof Maghembe said IT would be used as an alternative as more teachers were being awaited to graduate from training institutions. ”We are completing a project which will enable the use of IT to reach many students as part of measures to tackle the shortage of teachers in the country. This will also help in improving the standard of education and raise the enrolment of pupils”, said Prof Maghembe. After the project is completed, we shall be able to use one teacher to teach many students and the shortage of teachers will be history in Tanzania, he added. Prof Maghembe acknowledged the support of the American people in Tanzanian’s efforts to address the shortage of teachers. He warned that the shortage could get out of hand if alternative measures were not taken to solve the growing problem. Meanwhile, Prof Maghembe said the Government had raised the number of teachers graduating from various teachers’ training colleges to about 20,000 graduates annually.
He thanked the American people for the donation, saying the high enrolment had led to a shortage of the books in some parts of the country. He said the reading culture had been partly hampered due to lack of reading material. The American ambassador, Mr Mark Green, said the books were donated on humanitarian grounds and the fact that the US had warm relations with Tanzania. He noted that the books’ composition would help students improve their English and communication skills. Mr Green said the US was also volunteering Peace Corps who double as mathematics, science and information technology tutors in public schools. He urged the donation to be directed to the most needy. The function was also attended by senior Ministry of Education and US embassy officials accredited in the country.

Computers as a multi-purpose tool in today’s era of globalization

THE use of computers has seen the introduction of extended entertainment, with a computer, a number of interactive games can be played. Children can also be seen enjoying themselves with some of these games making computers to all age groups in the society in terms of usage. You can watch movies and play music on computers, indeed it’s a multi-purpose tool. For school going children and adults, computers have become a source of information through extensive use of powerful search engines on world wide web like google search engines, MSN search, AltaVista search, yahoo search etc. Many societies have benefited from computer technology advancement through monitoring systems that have taken control of some routine manual processes. This can be done manually and it is very tiresome when it’s supposed to be measured over a long period of time at intervals, say twice in every minute. Introduction of an automated computer system would mean a computer awaits inputs, carry out some operations and provide an output. A variety of approaches are available to train people. Each has its place but affordable Computer Based Training (CBT) video technology makes it possible to train a large number of people with ease and efficiency. A major advantage of CBT is that learning can take place at the convenience of the consumer. With further advancement a number of repetitive operations have been taken over by computer systems thereby reducing the amount of work to be done by human beings. It’s also worth noting that regardless of these positive innovations to human life, there has been a hot issue on the negative impart of computer systems whereby fears are that if might result in retrenchment of thousands of employees as little human intervention will be needed where a computerized system has been introduced.

Children can also be seen enjoying themselves with some of these games making computers to all age groups in the society in terms of usage.

The fastest of today’s computers can perform more than a billion calculations per second. Even so, they are still too slow to approximate a human being’s higher intellectual processes such as the capability to reason, discover meaning, generalize and learn from the past experiences. Though computers are very powerful tool, but without qualified people and effective electricity supply to operate them, their value is limited. Essentially electric power drives the economy, political and social lives globally both in the developed as well as in developing nations. For the case of Tanzania, this fact occasionally manifest when power rationing is scheduled to cushion the acute power shortage amid a protracted drought that usually occurs, an aspect that cause water levels drop in most of the country’s hydro-electric power generating dams. The country’s industrial production sector relies on electric power mainly generated by hydroelectric plants whose production is far below the 550 megawatt of the national demand. But since the country has enormous potentials of the electricity power, an investment in the sector is a solution to the problem. In order to resolve the electric power shortage, there is a great need to diversify the resources of energy in the country. According to an expert, more hydroelectric power plants should be established in big rivers found within the in the country. According to the Chief Engineer in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, Eng. Hosea Mbise, hardly 10 percent of the country’s population of approximately 40 million people has access to electricity. In rural communities only 2 percent have been reached. The government through its power policy of 2003 continues to work out strategies to increase the ratio of power consumption from the current 10 percent to 25 percent by 2025.

Understand little knowledge about your computer and internet communication

HAVE you ever wondered the great things that a computer is capable of doing? A computer is a machine that is capable of performing tasks under the control of a program or a set of programs. A user-friendly gadget such as a computer should be the pride of every individual in the wake of increased ICT use in this era of globalization. We might find it handy to use it at home or at work places. A program is just a set of instructions that a computer can understand, and they are these instructions that a computer will use to perform a certain task. The performance of a computer is usually measured by the ability and speed of the computer to execute those instructions. The set of instructions can be sub-divided into application and operating software, these are set of instructions by as software. Hence the general study of a computer application can be divided into both a software and a hardware. The hardware refers to the aspect of the physical tangible components of a computer whereas the software refers to the set of instructions or programs that control the function and performance of a computer. Within this set of software, there are also sub-divisions where the software can be sub-divided into systems software and application software. Application software is all about that software that is used to perform specific tasks and is usually tailor made to solve certain known tasks. An example will be an application like a word processor. System software refers to software that is specifically designed for the well functioning and operation of the computer. This includes utility programs for the computer like the set of instructions for the start up (booting of the computer) operating system e.g Windows 2000, Linux, Unix etc.

A user-friendly gadget such as a computer should be the pride of every individual in the wake of increased ICT use in this era of globalization. People are now using the internet connected to it anywhere you move around the world.

For a long time people have seen computers as something outside of this world because of the myths about their sophistication. Many people never even hoped that they would in these days and age own a computer that they would operate with at home or at their work places. They were seen as things for maneuvering big space ships. It’s nowadays that this myths about computers is being demystified to make people appreciate the importance and the user friendliness of computers. A computer is now a common feature in homes and people are now using the internet connected to it anywhere you move around the world. Internet is one of the most powerful tools for electronic dissemination of information and has overshadowed other communication modes. This is the most common use of computers as witnessed by the increased number of internet cafes in most countries. Through the World Wide Web, people in different geographical places can access important information from different parts of the world on different subjects at anytime. Communication via electronic mail has also proven to be one use of computers that has become very common over the last few years. With the great advances in technology, this vital aspect has been extended to hand held devices like palm top and cell phones enabling people to access their electronic mail on these hand held devices anywhere and at any time of the day. Besides the internet, computers can also be used as servers for storage of huge amounts of vital data. The ancient way of filling information being replaced by the introduction of large storage computers usually referred to as servers to take the handing of the huge volumes of data. Not only do these servers reduce the amount of paper work, but also they increase the efficiency of doing some of the process or operations that were being done annually. Consider for example, the amount of space that would be required to house files with hospitals patient history for say ten years and compare it to the introduction of just one computer to handle all that information. This has made a positive impact on the overall output and time taken to complete some repetitive tiresome operations. From this, it can be seen that with the use of computers time for operations and work reduces significantly as much of the work would now be done by the computers automatically thereby increasing efficiency and accuracy.

Implementing ICT policy for education in Tanzania

EDUCARTION is the key sector for development as it plays an important role in poverty reduction and has a strong influence on the society for being the main public employer. The country’s national policy is the starting point for an in-depth focus on education in Tanzania. A consistent ICT policy and its implementation strategy for the education sector in the country could build the sector’s performance if the government and the stakeholders are determined to take as keen interest. In order to support the National ICT policy in the country, the Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) has been in the forefront working in collaboration with some international bodies such as SIDA, IICD and UNESCO with an overview of the potentials of applying ICTs in the education sector in the country. The three international organizations have dedicated to implement the process of National ICT policy and have put forward various initiatives which outlines among other things, the application of ICT by deploying and developing a countrywide e-education system. Rural ICT access initiatives is a collaborative effort being undertaken by COSTECH in support of IICD attempting to bring to the community an affordable ICT based technologies for good governance and transparency for typical rural villages.

Teachers inside a computer lab for a training session at Kasulu Teacher’s Training College in Kasulu district, Kigoma region.

COSTECH being a part of the national task force, has been spearheading ICT capacity building which included training of specialized groups and assisting a number of national institutions in establishing computer mediated communication. The project includes training if trainers and installation of equipment and internet connection. Besides ICT for education policy process, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training is developing and implementing programs for the primary, secondary and teachers’ training education in which the advantages of ICTs are carefully considered compared to the costs expressed in time and finance. As part of its strategic plan to introduce ICT in the education system in Tanzania, there is a showcase ICT project owned by the Ministry of Education in partnership with the Swedish International Agency (SIDA). Potentially the opportunities are very attractive in terms of communication, improved teachers’ training and increased reach of education. The decision to expand the use of ICT to government teachers’ colleges in the country has a positive impact by improving communications, providing opportunities for professional development and facilitating the application of ICT in teaching and learning careers. More than 1,000 tutors have received training in various computer application programs which are offered by donor agencies in various Teachers’ training colleges in the country since 2003 when such training programs were first initiated. It’s very pleasing to note that, the climate of change is cutting up with all stakeholders of education in Tanzania, is that tutors or a teacher is taken as a facilitator and a trainee as a participant in learning. The emphasis now is on the learner who tries all the time to construct own meaning out of what is being taught. With the growth and expansion of Information and communication technology, there is now a consistent search for information by both tutors and trainers and this is revolutionalizing teachers’ education where everyone is seeking more and up to date information.