Developing ICT in Education Master Plan 101

In just four days, it is possible to discuss all the elements you need to develop an ICT in Education Master Plan. However, you need two things to make this possible: i) Right participants -- especially people who are involved in the educational planning system of the government; and ii) Support from Ministry of Education (MOE) officials. Without leadership support, the participants have no incentive to seriously discuss the master plan. Here's an overview of the agenda:

Day One

Morning session

Opening ceremony. MOE officials express their support to this initiative and indicate some areas/ideas they would like to see in the master plan. A keynote presentation follows to outline the compelling reasons to develop an ICT in Education Master Plan including lessons and examples from other countries.

Afternoon session

Policymakers’ Essentials. Participants, most likely, have different understanding about “ICT in Education”. This session ensures that everyone is on the same page; otherwise group discussions get messy. Involves presentation and frank discussion during open forum.

Assessing the current situation. Participants identify key national issues and existing government priorities that will be relevant to the ICT in Education Master Plan. Three important government documents: i) national development plan; ii) national education plan; and iii) national ICT plan are used as reference.

Day Two

Morning session

Setting the Vision. The development of ICT in Education Master Plans in Singapore and Korea provides a very good example for this session. Both countries are now implementing their third or fourth master plan. Their first master plan started with basic things such as developing infrastructure, ICT literacy training and teacher training. 

For this session, the participants’ job is to find “vision” not just for five years (coverage of one master plan) but for fifteen years (three master plans). There are at least two advantages for doing this. First, you can show the “big picture” to the MOE officials and other stakeholders. Second, by looking at the big picture (long-term), you can see the role of each master plan.

To get the overall vision, the participants need to develop their vision for each of the following: students, teachers, schools, universities, NFE learning centers and MOE.

Afternoon session

Top Ten Priorities. Many government plans suffer from trying to achieve too much with too little resources. Thus, they become wish-list rather than priorities. This can be avoided by asking the participants to identify only Ten Priorities, which when implemented should achieve the (five-year) vision of the master plan.

Day Three

Morning session

Policies and Strategies. The task here is to identify a set of policies and strategies to help the MOE implement the master plan. The participants can learn a thing or two by looking at innovative practices from other countries. Still, nothing beats the collective wisdom and experience of government planners. They know which policies and strategies would work as they have the insiders' knowledge on the dynamics of institutions involved.

Afternoon session

Implementation, Monitoring and Coordination. The key to implementation is to assign a lead department or unit in the MOE for each of the Top Ten Priorities. The lead actors will be accountable to the MOE officials if they perform. Some activities require cooperation from other entities within and outside the MOE. Implementing partners are also identified.

Then, the participants discuss the pros and cons of creating an ICT in Education Office or Unit in the MOE to monitor progress and coordinate the different actors. Ultimately, the answer depends whether or not the MOE can afford to create such as office or unit and assign a permanent coordinator or staff solely to coordinate all ICT in Education-related activities. The general observation is that things move faster when there is a permanent coordinator and office.

Funding Mechanism. With meager resources available in the MOE, ICT in Education initiatives will definitely compete with other important education expenditure items (e.g. teachers’ salary, building and maintaining school building, printing books, etc.). Fortunately, MOE can look to other partners such as international donors, private companies, NGOs and even local communities willing to support ICT in Education investments. The participants’ task is to match activities that are likely to be supported by funding agencies and other partners (e.g. World Bank and Asian Development can fund establishment of computer laboratories in schools; UNESCO can help in curriculum development; Intel and Microsoft for teacher training; communities can subsidize cost of electricity in schools).

Day Four

Morning session

Budgetary requirements and time-table. To increase the chances of implementing the Top Ten Priorities, the participants need to have a good grasp of how much budget is needed and a good idea when to implement the different activities.

Work plan to finalize the master plan. After discussing all the elements needed to develop an ICT in Education Master Plan, the participants list actions and activities to: i) develop the first draft, ii) consult and get comments from stakeholders, especially lead departments that will be responsible for the implementation, iii) meet with potential donors, and finally iv) get approval from MOE officials.

Afternoon session

Closing ceremony. As a reward for their hard work during the last four-days, the participants get to present their group outputs to the MOE officials. Everyone will now realize that an ICT in Education Master Plan is now within their reach and soon to be a reality.