Many schools do not have ready access to the expertise necessary to establish and maintain electronic systems that would allow them to, among other things, share resources, introduce much needed controls, and get optimal use out of the computers and other devices in their care. If they are lucky, someone might have set up the initial network, but its maintenance and evolution to suit the changing needs of the school may not have been factored in. In some cases, those configurations end up being abandoned, if no one is at hand to provide the requisite assistance.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, securing repairs, replacements and servicing can be a protracted process. Hence students, teachers, and even schools, could be without proper functioning equipment for weeks or months at a time, which in turn affects student learning.<\/p>\n

The preparation of teaching modules to assist teachers in the classroom can be lengthy and expensive. \u00a0To varying degrees, teachers rely upon material posted on the Internet \u2013 images, video clips, etc. \u2013 to supplement their classes on ad hoc basis. Moreover, teaching methods might not necessarily have changed to incorporate and benefit from the full integration of technology-related aids in student learning.<\/p>\n

Finally, it is important to highlight that although schools might have the best intentions for their student regarding their academic performance, the majority of them exist under challenging conditions, which would affect their priorities. For example, many public schools have had to increase their class size, resulting in individual teachers single-handedly managing forty to fifty students, with differing needs and capabilities, in the classroom.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, at the school level, although government might provide the basics, many are struggling to find ways of supplementing their income, in order to provide some critical extras. Under such circumstances, the call for greater use of technology in the classroom might appear to be an extravagance that they can ill afford.<\/p>\n

In light of the above points, although schools and teachers are being criticised for not making greater use of technology in the classroom, it is unlikely that they are being given the resources or support to realise this. While a few exceptions might exist among private schools, most public schools are struggling to ensure that their basic needs are covered. Hence greater participation and direction is needed from Ministries of Education and governments to move us, as individual countries and as a region, from lip service to the technology-enabled classroom.<\/p>\n

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