Uganda: Subsidised Internet for Education

	Email This Page Print This Page Comment on this article

New Vision (Kampala)

OPINION
11 October 2008
Posted to the web 13 October 2008

Dr. Frederick Wamala
Kampala

Last week we noted that high internet connectivity costs remain a major handicap to the widespread integration of IT in teaching and research at Ugandan educational institutions.

For example, Makerere University is levying a technology fee on private students to pay for internet bandwidth. The sh123,500 fee has stirred controversy.

A senior Makerere IT official explained the origin of the fee as follows. Donors finance technical and administrative components of the IT infrastructure. The main donors include SIDA, NORAD and the USAID. The donors fund discrete IT infrastructure components such as the campus backbone network, email, intranets, staffing and software for finance, academic records and human resources.

However, the donor agreements require the university to pay for actual external internet connection. The USAID/Leland Initiative initially covered this expense. From 2001, it fell on Makerere to purchase bandwidth at commercial rates. The university has struggled with the cost leading to numerous disconnections. For example, it was recently reported that Uganda Telecom disconnected internet access for the third time in less than two years. It was over a sh200m bill accumulated in three months. Makerere had been disconnected in July and October last year for sh900m and sh600m respectively. Even discounted satellite access has proved unaffordable.

The situation is untenable. The university has staggered from one disconnection to the next making it difficult to integrate IT into its functions as hoped under the donor agreements. Other educational institutions have not bothered to provide widespread internet access. Some have tried the fully privatised route with uneven results. The row at Makerere University Business School over SocketWorks comes to mind.

The Government of Uganda has outlined the vitality of fast internet connections to economic and social development. It is investing in the National Backbone Infrastructure to provide the Government and the private sector with reasonably priced internet access. For example, e-government initiatives are bringing video conferencing facilities to ministries. Video conferencing requires a lot of bandwidth. Hence, the allocated bandwidth must be fully utilised to realise value for money. Reports indicate this is not yet the case in some ministries. Educational institutions require special consideration because they anchor economic and social growth.

A drastic solution, therefore, is required. The internet is called the 'super highway' because it facilitates the flow of commerce and ideas. Hence, the Government should subsidise educational internet access. There are many examples around the world. For many years, the UK was the 'sick man of Europe' regarding internet access. British Telecom, the former monopoly, had utilised stalling tactics to deny competitors access to its exchanges. BT slowed down 'local loop unbundling' leaving UK households with slow and expensive internet access.

Over these years, the Joint Academic NETwork (JANET) quietly availed fast internet access to education. JANET is a government-funded computer network that provides internet access to all UK further and higher-education organisations and research councils. JANET connects the various institutions through 20 metropolitan networks. It is also linked with peer organisations in Europe and around the world.

Video conferencing is great. But Parliament should also consider a JANET-like subsidy for Uganda to avoid the near-death experiences afflicting Makerere and other institutions. Above all, a skilled workforce makes Uganda an attractive investment destination and facilitates efficient service delivery to citizens.

The writer is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional

Read comments. Write your own.

AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.

Share this on: Facebook Digg Del.icio.us StumbleUpon Muti

Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed Sign up for FREE daily 'top headlines' by email >>

Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | My Account

Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement.