An Exploration of the Situation of Educational Technology Infrastructure in Sudanese General Education: A Case Study

Abstract

In the last two decades, policymakers have considered Educational Technology Infrastructure (ETI) as a prerequisite for the successful implementation of Educational Technology Policies (ETP). This study aims to measure the situation of ETI in Sudan and display its importance in supporting ETP. Content analysis is used to demonstrate how specific attention is paid by US, UK, and China toward ETI as a crucial element in their ETP implementation, and how several factors are then determined to assess the infrastructure in Sudan based on experiences that the US, China, and World Bank have obtained. These include policies towards ETI; electricity supply; schools or classrooms connected to the internet; the ratio of students to computers; internet speed; and availability of digital resources. Recent years have witnessed e-learning projects and digital resources under construction by the Sudanese National Center for Curricula and Educational Research (NCCER) and UNICEF, but Sudan still faces various ETI problems, including (1) a lack of policy and vision towards ETI in Sudan; (2) Sudan’s ETI challenge of being a developing economy; (3) a sizable population living in areas without electricity coverage; (4) a low ratio of student to computer usage in public high schools (merely about 28:1). We conclude with proposing several workable solutions for improving the current situation of ETI in Sudan.