Samoa
The ICT Policy and Strategic Plan of Samoa directly supports the Department of Education 2000-2003 Corporate Plan. However, it does not address the utilisation of ICTs in schools or curriculum development and materials production processes but focuses on IT application to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative and planning functions within the departmental headquarters.
Nevertheless, the plan can be considered as a preparatory step towards wiring the entire Ministry of Education infrastructure and, in the long run, schools as well. Moreover, the fact that the Department of Education was conducting a study titled Information Technology in the Classrooms shows that Samoa has recognised the importance of ICTs in education.
The Department acknowledges that computer skills have a strong impact on employment opportunities of people who leave schools and universities. It is also aware of the fact that, before students have the opportunity to excel in computer knowledge, teachers need to use the tool and be competent and confident about using it.
The objective of the study was to determine the areas where teachers need training before computers are put into their classrooms as tools for learning and teaching. As far as computer literacy is concerned, it was found that the majority of teachers have either very limited knowledge or no knowledge at all in terms of computer usage. However, most teachers mentioned that they would very much like to learn more. Excel is the computer programme that the teachers surveyed knew most about, Word lies far behind.
As far as ICT use in the Department of Education is concerned, the following is outlined in the Master Plan:
- Preparation and Maintenance of a data model such as EMIS
- Identification of systems for re-engineering and application of standards to the re-engineering process
- Adoption and enforcement of software standards
- Implementation of an ongoing system for virus protection
- Implementation of standards for database development
- Adoption of a standard PC platform
- Preparation and implementation of standards for purchasing PCs
- Phased implementation of a network
- Provision of Internet access
- Establishment of ICT steering committee
- Provision staff training
- Outsourcing of hardware maintenance
(Information here taken from the Meta-Survey paper ICT in Education: Samoa)