Survey of ICT and Education in Africa : Cape Verde Country Report

Abstract

This short country report, a result of larger Information for Development Program (infoDev)-supported survey of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education in Africa, provides a general overview of current activities and issues related to ICT use in education in the country. Cape Verde has made significant strides in the implementation of ICTs in education. The drawback of doing so has been the exorbitant cost of Internet connection and services owing to the monopoly maintained by Cabo Verde Telecom. Further, the availability of the technology in terms of usability by the general population is limited to two islands where cyber cafes have been established by private companies nearly to the exclusion of the others. The 30 percent of the population living below the poverty line may never be able to access such facilities, and another 12,000 families may never enjoy such communication because of the terrain that makes it impossible for electric power to be extended to them using traditional means.