Narrowing the gap between the information rich and the information poor :
New technologies and the future of the school

The French speaking school Web

Southern countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mauritius, Mali, Morocco, Senegal).

The French speaking school Web is the establishment of internet access points in the schools of certain southern countries. Its objective is to put in contact northern youngsters with the south, by means of new information and communication technologies, allowing the latter to benefit themselves from internet resources. In the second phase, the project organizes visits of specialized personnel to these countries for training teachers in the new technologies.

The first phase of the project consists of setting the Internet access points in certain African schools, chosen to be the beneficiaries of the info-routes. After this technical phase, the second phase focuses on the organization and sending of trainees from northern countries to train people in charge of managing the access points and the users, so that they can develop skills related to the information technologies utilization. In this training for the management and use of information and communication technologies in an innovative way, the trainers help the schools to take their place on internet (creation of an information site on their schools and countries) and to participate in exchange projects (information exchange, contents spread-out).

This project allows young students to have access to info-routes resources and to a learning milieu based on the new trends and the latest technologies. It allows an increase in the information available for the research, it also allows a quick contact with the people around the world. It enables them to have interactions with other students and open up a "window to the world". Another function is to avoid all contingencies related to the lack of TIC in French speaking schools in the south. In a social and human dimension, it allows exchanges among young people of different horizons and cultures.

Rescol Canada
155 Queen streetth
Ottawa (Ontario) CANADA
K1A 0H5
Tel : 1 800 575 9200
Fax : 1 613 941 1296
E-mail : rescol@ic.gc.ca
Website : http://www.rescol.ca/toile/

Institutional Partners
New Brunswick Formation Group Inc.
Financial Partners
Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie/Rescol Canada (CECI)

1999