Re-engineering Education and Training for Economic and Social Development in the 21st Century: A Focus on Technology and Skills Development in National Education and Training Systems in Africa

This paper argues for the re-engineering of education and training systems for sustainable socio-economic development in Africa and looks at the role of ICTs in this context. African youth face very high unemployment rates, while also constituting a vast reservoir of talent, skills and opportunity. Improved access to and quality of, skills development, is critical to addressing youth unemployment. Nevertheless, traditional educational practice fails to support the use of these technologies for addressing the challenges of youth training and skills development. This paper looks at national education and training systems in Sub-Saharan Africa and key issues related to ICT and their integration to these systems. The paper also presents three case studies from Kenya and Ghana.