Cotonou (BEN), April 2012 - In a special report published by eLearning Africa, writer Stephen Haggard stimulates debate by taking a critical look at China's actions in African schools and mobile telecoms. Haggard argues that, up to now, China's presence in Africa has had disappointing impacts on learning.
However, there are signs that China's government and companies are planning to branch out from the "hard" technology of infrastructure to "soft" businesses such as education and training. This, Haggard argues, could have huge implications for education in Africa.
China's adventure in Africa is conspicuous. In cash terms, Chinese-African bilateral trade hit $114 billion in 2010, and if that year's forty percent annual growth keeps up, the current year's deals will be worth over $200 billion. China's activities in Africa eclipse those of America and the World Bank. In extent, they span mining, agriculture, transport, infrastructure, IT, education, and more.
China's involvement spells a big and sharp change around infrastructure. But what changes will it bring for learning and technology, the remit of eLearning Africa?
China's building or equipping of African schools has been a regular element in the announcement of a typical Chinese deal. Impacts are potentially big. Kenya is slated to secure Chinese IT suites with 25 PCs and Internet access for every one of its 6,000 secondary schools in a KES 9 billion deal currently pending signature. However, the value to Kenyan students will only be determined after the boxes are unpacked and the engineers have gone.
Yet no less a figure than Paul Kagame worries that China's cash may be threatening good governance in Africa. The Rwandan president, arguing that African leaders have a duty to "take good governance seriously", warns that "the presence of Chinese investment in Africa does not discharge governments of their responsibilities" in this regard.
Such school investment by China as there is often comes close to the status of Potemkin Villages, the painted facades constructed to impress the entourage of Catherine the Great on her travels. In the context of the Chinese funding of the Sierra Leone Presidency, Military, and Parliament buildings, the construction of a school building or two is mere peanuts. Many other aid donors and foreign governments also build schools, and do more besides.
But might China's engagement in the African education space be starting to evolve?
Members of this year's eLearning Africa conference will include - for the first time ever - a full delegation from China. The visitors are from the International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education, a research centre linked to Beijing Normal University's Center for Knowledge Engineering. They will be presenting a session about the Chinese experience of eLearning in rural development. Delegation member Zeng Haijun, says, "We hope these experiences will be useful for African countries".
In addition, in March 2012 China signed its funding for a US$8 million African teacher- training initiative led by UNESCO. The "Funds in Trust" deal, the first of this kind, sets a new direction for China's African policy, which, up to now, has been restricted to specific so-called "concrete" projects and has shunned the multinational donor community. It is budget support, which is new. Furthermore, it affects what happens in classrooms, which is also new. Both are firsts for China.
Examples such as these don't amount to a new direction, but they do hint at the possibility. China's funding for the UNESCO teacher-training programme is evidence that the country's contribution can go beyond the construction of token buildings that oil secret deals and can support necessary structural educational changes.
