Opening of Tunis International Symposium on ICTs in Service of Education

A host of French-speaking decision-makers and eminent experts in devising and producing educational contents and digital supports gathered, on Thursday in Tunis, as part of a two-day high-level international symposium on “ICTs in Service of Education,” placed under the high patronage of President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.

The symposium, which is aimed at drawing up an account and reviewing good practices in this field, follows Tunisia’s call to the September 2006 Bucharest Summit for the holding of an international symposium on the contribution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in developing education in French-speaking countries

It is held by the Tunisian government in association with the International Organisation of Francophony (IOF(

It aims a defining the contours of a strategy and an action plan for the next decade in order to reach the Millennium Objectives in education and contribute to materialise the Tunis Agenda to narrow the digital divide, which was adopted at the Tunis World Summit on the Information Society in November 2005 (WSIS(.At the opening of the symposium works, prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi said the two fields of electronic communications and education are undergoing a fascinating development, one characterised by a remarkable progress of ICTs and a greater importance of learning and knowledge in both the national and individual concerns.

Keeping schools abreast of information and communication technologies.

Consequently, it has become necessary, he pointed out, to keep schools abreast of the information and communication technologies to make them powerful subsidiary of training and learning. This is also a strategic choice in the project of tomorrow’s school, and a crucial stake as well.

Mr. Mohamed Ghannouchi reviewed, in this respect, the five fundamental priorities, namely diversifying and enriching pedagogical supports and developing the autonomy of learners, notably in matters of research and information.

It is also a matter of getting learners accustomed to team work, promoting the instructors’ role and varying the training modes by developing remote training.The command of these technologies could be considered, in fact, as one of the most efficient means to prepare the new generations to face up to the future and take up the challenges awaiting them, the prime minister also underlined.Aware of the extent of these changes, Tunisia, Mr. Mohamed Ghannouchi added, has staked on promoting human resources by allocating to them over 7.5% of its GDP, convinced as it is that youth’s education is one of the foundations of any deep reform at the political, economic and social levels.He also reminded of the setting up of sector-based networks for education, vocational training, higher education and scientific research to give access to various digital pedagogical and scientific resources and encourage exchanges between the various actors in the education field: learners, educators, researchers and administration

A virtual university called to provide 20 pc of academic courses.In this respect, e-learning has developed with the launching of a virtual school to provide complementary courses to pupils, notably the Tunisian expatriates, and a virtual university which is called to provide 20 pc of academic courses, Mr. Ghannouchi added.The prime minister said Tunisia’s development strategy ICTs helped achieve positive results, as illustrated by a noticeable reinforcement of the sector’s share of the GDP, i.e. 9% presently, and a rise of the share of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in this sector.These actions earned Tunisia an encouraging appreciation of the international organisations and authorities, including notably the Davos World Economic Forum which ranked Tunisia in its 2007-2008 report 35th on the world scale out of a total of 122 countries for the quality of its information technologies network and 4th for the success of its policy of ICTs promotion, the prime minister reminded.Taking the floor during the opening session, Mr. Abdou Diouf, secretary-general of the Francophony highlighted the importance of this meeting on the role of ICTs in the field of education which is held thanks to Tunisia’s initiative and its president, President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.He highlighted Tunisia’s status as an eminent member of the Francophony, one actively committed in the problematics of the future, as had been demonstrated by its centre-stage role in the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS(

In addition to the attendance of representatives of the ICTs and education world, the symposium’s agenda includes a technological exhibition on innovating computer applications and solutions “Edu@ic.”