ICTworks

When we talk of information and communication technologies in education, ICT4E, we often are focused on putting technology in the hands of students. But appropriate ICT can actually make a more cost effective and immediate impact on educational administration.

From the basics of personnel management – how many teachers and students are in a given school – to logistics – where are all the schools and what’s in them – to all the other functions that educational systems require to put on a class every school day.

Here’s just one, eye-opening example of the impact of ICT on education: with an initial investment of $198,000 (the cost of management and administration software), Kenyatta University has realized a financial gain of $4 million a year. How? They can now accurately track school fee payments by students.

“Before we got the software, the fee collection was about 64% or 65%, which means 35% of students were not paying their fees, or they were paying maybe when they leave. We were losing a lot of revenue.

So, with the introduction of the software, you cannot register without paying fees. That alone increased the fee collection to about 90%. That’s a big revenue income.”
Olive Mugenda, KU Vice Chancellor in The use of ICT at Kenyatta University

The next time you are talking with an educator about ICT4E, you may want to point out that ICT can help schools long before students use computers – they can generate revenue and increase school sustainability when applied to the administration of education.