A regional report on ICT integration and e-readiness in schools across Asia
Within Asia there are wide variations in the level of investment in information and communication technology (ICT) in education. In countries like the Republic of Korea and Singapore, OECD member countries in Asia, governments have made commitments that outstrip those of some of their European counterparts. But, for many other countries in the region, the school-aged population has little or no access to ICT in the classroom.
A new report from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) analyses ICT integration and e-readiness in education for 28 countries in the region, including countries in Central Asia, South and West Asia, and East Asia.
E-readiness (electronic readiness) is a measure of the degree to which a country is prepared to partake in electronic activities and benefit from ICT in education.
The report explores four specific types of data:
- ICT in policy and key curricular areas;
- ICT infrastructure and its importance to integrating ICT-assisted instruction;
- Participation in programmes offering ICT; and
- Teaching and learning as they relate to ICT in education.
The data, covering 2011 and 2012, provide a snapshot of ICT access, as well as basic usage of ICT for education, across the region.
The report and data add to a growing body of research on ICT in education. UIS surveys conducted in Latin America and the Caribbean and in five Arab States reveal the extent to which factors, such as education policy, teacher training and infrastructure, drive or hamper the integration of ICT in schools and the classroom.