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Policy Advice

07 Jun 2018

Building an effective roadmap for ICT in education 

National ICT in education policy acts as a roadmap for the entire education sector's efforts towards the integration of ICT into a Member State's education system. These policies have grown in importance in this digital age as technology becomes an indispensable part of our daily lives and continues to change the way our societies operate.

Policy decisions that are made with a clear vision of what needs to be achieved, are integrated with existing sector and nationwide plans, and supported with research and evidence to justify such decisions, optimize the use of resources for more effective programmes and projects.

The impact of these national policies are long-lasting given their typical five to ten-year timelines. By learning from fellow Member States' experiences and leveraging UNESCO's expertise, missteps can be avoided by taking into consideration a variety of factors in ICT in education policy planning including a supportive national policy framework, clear policy goals and appropriate costing and budgeting.

Scope of the Project

UNESCO Bangkok's ICT in Education assists Member States in the development of relevant ICT in education policies and strategies by conducting policy development workshops, providing a comprehensive policy review, and facilitating regional policy dialogues. 

Policy Development Workshops 

Policy development workshops focus on capacity building and supporting Member States who wish to develop an ICT in education master plan or policy in a holistic manner. It aims to promote appropriate policy models and strategies for the integration of ICT into education in the Asia-Pacific region, with special emphasis on developing policies which utilize ICT to remove barriers to participation in education and to enhance the quality of education.

The overall objectives of the workshops include:

  • Raise awareness among policy decision makers of the benefits and risks of using ICT in education to facilitate the achievement of their education goals;
  • Strengthen the capacity of policy decision makers to develop, implement and monitor effective ICT in education policies and plans;
  • Estimate and project the cost implications for the selected ICT provision for educational institutions; and
  • Initiate and sustain multi-stakeholder cross-ministry discussions on ICT in education policy.

Policy Review

For Member States who have already developed and implemented their ICT in education master plan or policy, we can assist with a systematic review of the policy documents and reports against the national educational goals. This review exercise, carried out by UNESCO and international experts, provides an opportunity for the concerned Member State to benchmark their master plan and policies with those of other countries in the similar contexts, broaden the perspectives to align with the national education sector plan, look closely into strengths and weakness, and revisit the implementation strategies.

Policy Forums

We also organize regional and sub-regional policy fora to share Member States’ knowledge, experiences and lessons learned in planning and implementing innovative initiatives in ICT for education across the region and beyond. The development of regional and sub-regional policy has been led through these platforms, such as the Asia Pacific Ministerial Forum on ICT in Education (AMFIE) and the Central Asia Symposium on ICT in Education (CASIE). For the details of each forum, including programme, presentations and outcome documents, please visit Events.

Current Activities

  • With the generous support of the Government of Korea's Funds-In-Trust, we have supported the governments of Sri Lanka and Solomon Islands with the development of their costed ICT in education master plans which are aligned with their stated national education sector priorities. As part of this project, a Planning Toolkit will also be developed that will include tools for costing of projects in a master plan, gap analysis, work plan development and implementation. The online tool, "UNESCO ICT in Education Policy Planning Guide", for Asia-Pacific countries is available for use and feedback. It can also be downloaded as an offline ePDF version here. 
  • A follow-up to the above activity, also supported by the Government of Korea's Funds-In-Trust, is the development of an online innovative financial planning module for ICT in education policies. The beta version for user-feedback and testing can be found here. The module has been pilot tested with Kiribati and Maldives and will continue to be refined into early 2020. 
  • Additionally, we are supporting the governments of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal in their review and development of costed comprehensive ICT in education master plans as part of the Government of Japan's Funds-In-Trust project "ICT to Facilitate SDG4 in South Asia". This project will also contribute to the development or enhancement of the Member States' ICT competency standards for teachers and to sub-regional knowledge sharing activities such as the South Asia Regional Symposium on ICT for Education 2018 concluded on 27-28 February 2018. The 2020 edition of the South Asia Regional Symposium on ICT for Education 2020 is scheduled for April 2020. 

Completed activities

  • AMFIE 2017 was held on 11-12 May 2017 in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in partnership with the Korean Ministry of Education. AMFIE 2017 concluded with the adoption of the 'Asia-Pacific Regional Strategy on Using ICT to Facilitate the Achievement of Education 2030', a landmark development that will guide the Asia-Pacific region's priorities over the next five years from 2017-2022 on the use of ICT to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education, in alignment with the Education 2030 Agenda. Find out more at the AMFIE 2017 page. 
  • A research study titled "Positioning ICT in Education to Achieve the Education 2030 Agenda in Asia and the Pacific: Recommendations for a Regional Strategy" was published in February 2018 as a complementary document to the Regional Strategy. The study consolidates and highlights the data related to effective use of ICT in education. The findings in this study had informed the development to the Regional Strategy, and should be regarded as a complementary document, used together, to guide Members States in the implementation of concrete and feasible actions in leveraging ICT in education.
  • Solomon Islands launched their ICT in Education Master Plan 2019-2023 on 28 March 2019 at a ceremony graced by the Secretary of Education Dr Franco Rodie. 
  • Bhutan launched their iSherig 2 Education ICT Master Plan 2019-2023 on 24 May 2019 at a ceremony graced by the Minister of Education Honourable Sherig Lyonpo Jai Bir Rai and Director of UNESCO Asia Pacific Regional Bureau for Education Mr. Aoyagi Shigeru.
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