Economic Upliftment and Social Development through the Development of Digital Astuteness in Rural Areas

The central idea conveyed by this paper is essentially a proposal for an intervention program that is aimed at developing the digital astuteness of rural and less rural areas of South Africa in a bid to contribute to economic upliftment and social development. The goal of the proposed intervention is to support existing learning programs in South Africa by injecting a flux of digital astuteness into the citizenry. The intervention is brought about by the use of container classrooms, which are extensively discussed, with design schemas proposed as well as other relevant information. In the South African context, e skills are broadly defined as the ability of people to use and create all forms of ICT in order to achieve equitable prosperity and global competitiveness in general, and to improve their life opportunities in (i) personal and educational space, (ii) work environments, (iii) community interactions, and (iv) participation in government processes. Democratic South Africa has made genuine progress in creating a more equitable society by, for example, providing better access to education and training at all levels and continuous improvements to the healthcare system. However, despite the South African Constitution and the international human rights law recognition that everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living, we are still facing conditions which do not sustain the human rights of our citizens and their dignity. Literature Study Contextualisation One of the key attempts towards a collective African vision is the New Economic Partnership for African Development. Barnard and Vonk (2003) report that "53 countries have been urged to implement ICT in three crucial development arenas: education, health and trade" While NEPAD and other initiatives have contributed to the provision of ICT infrastructure with positive results as seen in the growth of Internet uses, the disparities in development across Africa are enormous. The challenge to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Africa has been summarised by Colle (2005) "central to creating digital resources and academic infrastructure is the question of universities' relevance to the world around them, and especially to the challenge of being an active player 'an anchor of a broad based poverty alleviation strategy' in an increasingly knowledgebased economy" It can be inferred from Colle that the activities of HEIs in Africa ought to be geared towards contributing to the realisation of the Millennium development goals. In 2003, the World Summit on the Information Society adopted a declaration of principles aimed at enabling everyone to create access, utilise and share information and knowledge. In this declaration, member states affirmed their commitment to aggressive investment in ICT for social and economic development (Ngwenyama et al. 2006) In Ghana, one of the reasons for low internet use is lack of access (Colle, 2005) The problem of access to the Internet seems to impact on educators' readiness for preparing graduates who are able to conceptualise the links between ICT and development challenges. Obuobi, Richards, and Adrion (2006) observes that although there are 12 private universities and six public ones in Ghana, there is a critical shortage of highly qualified professionals and teachers in IT to accelerate economic and academic development. In an earlier study, Unwin (2005) reports that approximately 30,000 untrained teachers worked in various schools in Ghana in 2003. In these contexts, the challenge is how to cost effectively mentor untrained educators without them leaving the class rooms and how to allow educators to access shared resources. The role of ICT for life long learning becomes evident in such a scenario. Ineffectiveness of traditional teaching models James, Hesselmark, Akoh, Mware (2003) note that the model for lecture based products within the African institutions reviewed has been that of a face to face classroom situation, using a variety of media to enhance the learning experience.