Africa e-Textbook Study Revised 3

Africa e-Textbook Study
Washington D.C.
August 2011

Africa e-Textbook Study | 2
Table of Contents
Executive Summary Page 3
Scope of the Study Page 4
I. Africa – Overview Page 6
II. Information and Communications Technology in Africa Page 9
III. Education in Africa Page 11
IV. Publishing Value Chain Page 15
V. E-Textbook Education Compared to Traditional Education Page 21
VI. Solution Design Page 23
VII. Simulations Page 26
A. Nigeria Page 26
B. Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa and
Sub-Saharan Africa Page 28
VIII. Further Ideas Page 31
IX. Partners Page 34
X. Supporting Documents Page 36

Executive Summary
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is experiencing rapid economic growth driven by the abundance of
natural resources, young population and low income levels. At the same time the region faces
numerous basic challenges ranging from famine, healthcare and education to violence and lack
of infrastructure.
The information technology sector has undergone rapid expansion, with the number of mobile
subscribers increasing with triple-digit rates every year. This in turn has led to many initiatives
aimed at overcoming social difficulties creating ample potential for education to develop.
Furthermore the introduction of technology significantly simplifies the textbook value chain,
leading to lower costs, more flexible schedules and wider application areas.
This study proposes a tentative solution design allowing for broad technology penetration,
measuring student performance, controlling content and Intellectual Property distribution and
providing a more effective and engaging learning experience.
Based on gathered data and stated assumptions the study develops a cost model for Nigeria and
then applies the cost structure to Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa and the entire
region of Sub-Saharan Africa. The summary findings forecast the implementation costs to be 2%
of SSA’s GDP and given the broad support of the international community it concludes that the
financial burden is fairly manageable.
The study also outlines some of the risk areas, the potential partners, puts forward additional
ideas and provides a list of supporting documents.

Scope of the Study
The study will cover the following areas:
(1) Stocktaking of ongoing field tests and evaluations in using electronic learning materials
as pedagogical tools, and reading, and summarizing the purposes, sponsors and contact
groups, email addresses, and websites.
(2) Desk review of present devices available in the world (Africa, Asia, US, Europe, Middle
East, Latin America) including eReaders and tablets, or netbooks used for reading.
(3) Desk review of the supply chain of eBooks—the digital publishing supply chain. What is
the current supply chain of electronic/digital books?
(4) An additional scope added to the review is the exploration of a possible scenario design
of applying a digital ebook migration in several countries including Nigeria, and with
some simulations of how that could scale in other countries such as Kenya, Uganda,
Tanzania, Ghana, South Africa, and for the Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.
Methodology
The desk review was implemented through Internet search (Google etc.) and by phone/Skype
interviews of selected focus groups globally, review of other bibliographic references available
from the global libraries through Internet, review of the present studies by the World Bank and
other agencies.
Stocktaking of studies on effectiveness, cost and cost-effectiveness of new devices: Outputs
and review methodology
A literature search will be conducted to identify ongoing, and proposed field testing of the
effectiveness, usage, and impact (if available) of the use of new eReader or tablet devices. This
review covered (a) user experience from the field tests including preliminary results if the study
is still underway, (b) lessons learned. The review summarizes in an appendix, the description of
the studies, objectives, methodology and logistics of administration, kind of device—name and
technical specifications, sponsoring agencies and partners, timetable, cost of the study. This
review will include assessment of the studies conducted in all parts of the world, including those
in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States.

Desk review of devices available on the market and in the near term globally: Outputs and
review methodology
This covered an assessment of the devices currently available and will be available in the next
three years, conducted through Internet search, and interviews with suppliers. The purpose is
to understand the kinds of devices that are available to the world, their capacity, price, sturdiness
for third world applications, and user friendliness taking into consideration screen view, battery
charging, GSM-capability.
Desk review of the digital publishing supply chain: Outputs and review methodology
Book publishing and content delivery is being radically reshaped by the Internet and e-books are
growing in popularity. Although they only account for an estimated 3 to 5 percent of the market,
e-book sales increased 176 % in 2009, and to an astronomical 1,530% in 2010 (Digital World
2011) . It is projected that they will eventually account for between 25% and 50% of all books
sold. Downloads of e-book reading ―apps‖ recently surpassed that of hardbound and paperbacks.
The desk review provides information about the current and emerging supply chain of digital
books? As an industry, digital publishing is in its infancy, and recent developments in electronic
books and the emergence of tablets provided the spark to the current development. The
movement towards digital publishing is unmistakable, and the industry is now changing its
character almost on a monthly cycle with the rise of new groups apart from Amazon.com –
including new competitors like Nook, Sony, and Barnes and Noble and Kobo
The desk review summarizes from an internet search the following key information which will
likely help in determining strategic options for supply of books in Africa and other developing
countries. This includes: (1) what publishing houses take the largest market share of current
global and African publishing--note: some of these information can be obtained in the other desk
review of the Africa Textbook Study (2) current activity and/or plans of these main players to
move part or all to digital publishing (3) printed book pricing, digital book pricing and analysis
of trends in prices in the region and in the world in general (4) the publisher’s standards for
loading digital content provisioning and loading systems unto the eReader (XML, ePub,
Mobipocket, and others) and their Digital Rights Management (DRM) security standards system
specifications .

I. Africa – Overview
The African continent is home to almost one billion people, of which Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
accounts for 860 million inhabitants. The age pyramid is heavily skewed towards the younger
generations and projections estimate that by 2050 SSA will number one and a half billion people.
With regards to economic development, African countries have experienced around 6% GDP
growth over the recent years and judging by the low income levels those countries have ample
room for further growth. The African economies are export driven, mainly by natural resources.
The continent a number of challenges: poverty, poor healthcare and malnutrition,
underdeveloped educational system and violence. The numerous local languages create a
fragmented educational market. Oftentimes primary school children are taught in their native
local language while the academic content is published in the official (European) language. Thus
at an early age students are deprived of comprehensive information, which later exacerbates into
large knowledge gaps.
Empirical evidence has shown that the development of a knowledge economy is the main driver
addressing the above-mentioned issues. Countries such as Ireland, South Korea and Japan
demonstrate that rapid economic development and increase in income levels is achievable by
developing quality talent, R&D capabilities and high value-add sectors.

II. Information and Communications Technology in Africa
The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector is among those that have
experienced the fastest growth in recent years. Due to the low-income levels, technologies and
solutions tailored for such a thin-margin environment undergo sudden market penetration. The
general model observed is that those solutions are designed to have almost no fixed costs or fixed
costs that are subsidized by companies, governments or NGOs. The solutions offer small and
incremental benefits to local populations. Those technologies are highly mobile, simple to use
and can work in rural and poor-infrastructure environments.
ICT has significant contribution to general welfare and innovative solutions improve the quality
of life. However, there is still substantial reliance on Western companies and NGOs for capital
investment and talent.
Brilliant examples are the numerous crowd-sourcing businesses, especially TxtEagle
(http://txteagle.com/ and YouTube video).
Currently there are a number of projects sponsored by NGOs and multinational companies
pioneering new uses of technology in education. South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania are leading
in those efforts. Here are a few projects:
 Basic Guide to Open-Education Resources (report and website) – a very recent report on
how to incorporate open-education resources into the learning system. It addresses issues
such as Intellectual Property Rights and commercial distribution
 Talking Stories (website) – a South-African e-learning primary school software
 awareNet (website and article) – social media promoting literacy, self-respect and
decrease violence amongst youths in Africa
 eRwanda Project (article) – World Bank funded a fleet of ICT buses to provide access to
Internet and computer to ordinary citizens
 EVOKE Project (website) – a social networking project funded by the World Bank,
stimulating people to find innovative solutions to social problems in underdeveloped
countries
 BridgeIT (website and supporting presentation ―BridgeIt Presentation - Using mobile
solutions in classrooms‖)
 IICBA (website) – a program by UNESCO promoting ICT in education and distance
teacher education
There are also several projects originating in developed countries:
 Khan Academy (website) – comprehensive system of over 2400 videos across a variety
of topics. It offers additional tools such as student progress and engagement.

 Open CourseWare (website) – MIT-sponsored project for making accessible educational
content for free online
 Pearson Virtual Learning (website)

III. Education in Africa
Through the collaboration between the World Bank and the UN for the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) primary school enrollment rates have increased
substantially. However new challenges have emerged – the survivability of students through
junior secondary and senior secondary education, the quality of learning and the quality of the
teaching staff. In addition, school children in Africa face poor infrastructure, AIDS/HIV
incidence, language and cultural barriers, and gender inequality. With the Education Strategy
2020, the World Bank aims at improving the quality of learning, employability and control of the
educational systems. To that respect the introduction of ICT to schools will provide a powerful
educational and control opportunity. On one side students will interface interactive and intuitive
content, tailored for the specifics of their society. Not only interweaving learning with games
improves learning, but also incorporating social networking features will create a wide base of
social skills and understanding of norms. On the other side technology allows to monitor content
utilization and track learning progress on individual level. It will allow to identify problem areas
and to respond in a timely manner to them.

IV. Publishing Value Chain
The publishing value chain is quite complex and involves a number players, as supporting
document ―Publishing value chain.docx‖ shows. As a result, on average the retail price of printed
books add another $23.80 on top of the royalties paid to the author. E-books however rely on a
very simple and fast distribution channel – the Internet. Therefore, their retail price adds only
$10.70 on top of the royalties paid. As a whole in developed markets e-books have rapid growth
rate and cannibalize sales of printed books. E-books have a number of advantages:
 less fixed costs: distribution network, stores, printing presses, staff
 allocation of costs on per user basis: e-reader/tablet, internet connection
 easier Digital Rights Management
 faster speed to market
 potential for social networking (i.e. having websites where readers rate books) and cloud
computing (multiple publishers pool resources)
Comparing e-books to the solutions presented in ―II. Information and Communications
Technology in Africa‖ section we see to key similarities: low fixed costs and per usage charge on
customers. Developing viable business models for low income countries, where manufacturers
are capable of introducing cheaper devices and different entities (companies, NGOs) are
subsidizing some of the costs, will allow the fast adoption of e-reader/tablet devices in Africa.
The Africa e-Textbook Study has the potential of introducing a disruptive technology across the
continent and in doing so, to create new business models mitigating some of the inefficiencies
and costs. It is very important that the current project is viewed in terms of the broader
environment and that interaction with key players is sought.
According to publishing experts (such as Michael Cairns), the digitization of education is
happening at a much faster pace than in the commercial publishing sector; for example 31% of
Pearson’s revenues come from digital.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, AT Kearney and Haas Business School have published extensive
reports (―PwC - eBooks-Trends-Developments.pdf‖, ―AT Kearney - Do Readers Dream of
Electronic Books.pdf‖ and ―Haas - Pearson E-Textbooks.pdf‖) on e-books and related devices.
There are several important considerations from the report:
 In the future DRM wouldn’t be cumbersome and will not add significant cost
 In order to remain competitive with tablets, the e-Readers will have to be selling around
$70 price tag
 Prices of e-readers will fall; color screens and internet connectivity will be standard.
Their price will be lower than that of tablets and they will have fewer features
 Tablets will become lighter with improved battery life
 More publishers will offer multimedia content in e-books

 Libraries may invest in e-books and cloud systems. We could envision a central e-library
for SSA, providing e-books in the main official languages
 Publishers will develop new business models around copyright in order to avoid the
mistakes of the music industry
 Introduction of content indexing and pooling of resources
 E-books will sell at a 20-30% discount to printed copies
 Overall costs and prices of devices and e-books will decrease due to:
o stronger cooperation between players
o advancement of technology
o elimination of intermediaries
o flexible DRM policies

Note: the cost structure is representative for commercially sold e-books on the American market.
With regards to e-textbooks the cost structure is somewhat different, since the publishers have
control of larger portion of the supply chain and since multiple students could access the same
digital copy. E-textbook projects conducted by the World Bank in other emerging markets, such
as the Philippines have shown average cost per student per e-textbook of $1.
Cost Share Cost Share
Author 4.20$ 15% 2.27$ 17%
Publisher 14.00$ 50% 9.09$ 70%
Retailer 9.80$ 35% 1.63$ 13%
Price 28.00$ 12.99$
Printed Books Digital Books

V. E-Textbook Education Compared to Traditional Education
E-textbook education has a number of advantages compared to traditional education. Firstly, it is
the quality of education in itself. Electronic content allows for standardization of the learning
process and bringing uniform academic requirements, not only among schools in one country,
but among schools on a global or regional level. By adapting the content to different cultures and
skillsets, students are able to learn faster the material. Furthermore, content management systems
(CMS) allow for monitoring of the progress of each student and measuring the performance of
teachers.
Using electronic CMS would allow for significant cost savings in terms of pooling of resources.
Schools could use cloud computing services to access the internet, to store and analyze student
data and academic content. In addition, the cost of textbooks is purely based on the value of the
digital rights and there is no cost incurred for physical publishing and distribution. Furthermore,
one could envision flexible and affordable DRM prices. Generally the publisher creates
educational content for developed markets. The publisher will incur no additional cost if it
decides to make available the content to SSA countries. In that regard, even a symbolic price of
$1 per e-textbook would generate significant cash flow to the publisher, especially after taking
into account the number of students in SSA.
There are however several impeding factors to consider, first amongst which is the cost. Student
devices are the largest item and projected to represent 30% of all costs. In addition upgrading the
school infrastructure and connecting schools to the internet and the content management system
would be yet another challenge as will providing proper maintenance to all equipment and
facilities. There’s also need to factor in the teacher training and assuring a minimum level of
competence amongst educators. Furthermore, the E-textbook project calls for the cooperation
and interaction of numerous players and aligning their goals and interest would be difficult.
Below is a sample framework outlining the advantages and disadvantages of E-textbook and
Traditional education, which are then plotted on a matrix rating them in terms of cost and
efficiency.

Advantages Disadvantages
Quality of education Cost of devices and annual maintenance
Track student progress Teacher training
Control teacher performance Initial cost to set up facilities
Pooling of Resources DRM and IPR challenges
E-content cheaper to buy, customize and modify Multiple stakeholders to coordinate
Students up to date with latest technology Underdeveloped infrastructure
Interactive content
E-Textbook Education
Advantages Disadvantages
No upfront investment Poor education quality
Few stakeholders to coordinate Teacher absenteeism
Affordable to governments Students unskilled to be employed
Old or foreign content
High textbook costs
Traditional Education

VI. Solution Design
The conceptual design of the proposed solution is as follows:
• One central content repository managed as a cloud service, where publishers will regulate
access to their content
• Schools will connect with high-speed Internet to the cloud
• The internet connection will be shared among all classrooms in a school
• Students in each classroom will access the content through their devices

The student devices represent the focal point of the system design and there are three viable
options: e-readers, tablets and netbooks. This study has selected the tablets as the most practical
option for a number of reasons.
Firstly, here is how tablets compare to e-readers:
 color and larger display
 touchscreen, more interactive for students
 allow for full media experience, as their peers in developed countries
 allow to take advantage of online content
 only 30% more expensive
And here is how tablets compare to netbooks:
 offer similar experience, except for the keyboard
 more compact, longer battery life
 mobile connectivity, especially since mobile is omnipresent in Africa

VII. Simulations
This study looks at three levels of simulations. Firstly, it looks at a detailed implementation cost
analysis for Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. Then it extrapolates the cost structure and
applies it to six other countries: Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa. Those
countries represent a diverse mix in terms of geography, economic development and population
size. Lastly, the study looks at the entire Sub-Saharan Africa region. The supporting file ―Cost
analysis.xlsx‖ contains the respective simulations.
A. Nigeria
For Nigeria, the initial step is to determine the number of people in secondary school age relying
on ―UNESCO Teacher and Education Quality.pdf‖. Then to find the enrollment rates for
secondary education, the number of secondary schools we use ―Roadmap for the Nigerian
Education Sector.pdf‖, while we refer ―World Bank ICT for Education in Nigeria.pdf‖ to
determine the price of broadband. We also make several assumptions:
- there would be one classroom and one teacher for every 35 students
- teacher training will last two months
- cloud computing will be utilized for 10 hours a day, 250 days per year
- each student will need 10 e-textbooks per year
- DRM cost per e-textbook per student is $1
- Cost of $1000 to upgrade each classroom
- Student device is tablet with Wi-Fi and 3G, cost 75% subsidized
- 20% maintenance cost for devices and facilities
- Near term GDP growth rate of 5%
- Population growth rate of 3%
Based on additional supporting documents such as ―Cost Analysis - New.xlsx‖ and ―Electronic
Textbook Supporting Presentation.pptx‖ and relying on sources such as The World Bank and
The CIA World Factbook, below is a summary of key assumptions and findings:
 Total secondary school population: 9.82 million people
 Secondary school enrollment rate: 28%
 There are 7130 secondary schools in Nigeria
 There would be 1 teacher and 1 classroom per 35 students
 Cost of $1000 to upgrade each classroom
 20% maintenance cost for devices and facilities
 Nigeria GNI per capita $2000 and GDP (PPP) per capita $1118
 Broadband annual cost: $6000 (3 times GNI per capita)

 Teacher annual salary: $5590 (5 times nominal GDP per capita)
 Teacher training for the e-textbook solution is estimated to last two months
 Cloud computing cost: $0.32 (based on Amazon EC2 pricelist)
 Cloud computing utilization 10 hours a day, 250 days per annum
 Number of e-textbooks read by a student per school year: 10
 Digital Rights Management fee: $1 per book per student
 Student device: tablet with Wi-Fi and 3G, retail price $199
 Tablet cost subsidized 75%
Total Potential Secondary School Students (mln) 9.92
Current Enrollment Rate in Secondary Schools 28%
Cost of Student Device (Tablet WiFi+3G) 64.75$
Maintanance Cost per Device (20% of Device Cost) 12.95$
Cost of E-Textbook 1.00$
E-Textbooks per Student 10
Number of Secondary Schools 7130
Cloud Computing Price (per hour) (Amazon EC2 price) 0.32$
Hours Cloud Computing (10 hours per day, for 250 days) 2500
Teachers (1 teacher per 35 students) 138,880
Classrooms (1 classroom per 35 students) 138,880
Cost to Upgrade a Classroom $1,000
Nigeria GNI 2,000.00$
Nigeria GDP (nominal) 1118
Annual Broadband Cost per School (3 times GNI) 6,000.00$
Annual Teacher Salary (5 times GDP) 5,590.00$
Cost of Training Time per Teacher (2 months) 931.67$
Annual Growth Rate 3%
Nigeria GDP Growth Rate 5%
Assumptions
1
2
2
2
3
3
Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year Steady State Sub-Total % of Project Cost
Secondary School Students (mln) 0 1.13088 1.42848 2.30144 2.4395264
% of Total 0% 30% 30% 40%
Enrollment Ratio of Total 28% 38% 48% 58%
Student Devices Bought (mln) 0.48608 1.45824 1.45824 1.45824 0.1380864
% of Total 10% 30% 30% 30%
Teachers Trained 41,664 41,664 55,552 0 3,945
% of Total Teachers 30% 30% 40% 0%
Cost of Devices (mln) 31.47$ 94.42$ 94.42$ 94.42$ 8.94$ 314.74$ 30%
Annual Maintanence Cost (mln) 6.29$ 25.18$ 44.06$ 62.95$ 64.74$ 138.48$ 13%
E-Textbooks DRM -$ 11.31$ 14.28$ 23.01$ 24.40$ 48.61$ 5%
Internet Access (mln) 42.78$ 42.78$ 42.78$ 42.78$ 42.78$ 171.12$ 16%
Cloud Computing (mln) 5.70$ 5.70$ 5.70$ 5.70$ 5.70$ 22.82$ 2%
Upgrading Classrooms (mln) 138.88$ -$ -$ -$ -$ 138.88$ 13%
Classroom Maintanance (mln) 27.78$ 27.78$ 27.78$ 27.78$ 83.33$ 8%
Teacher Training (mln) 38.82$ 38.82$ 51.76$ -$ 3.68$ 129.39$ 12%
Total Cost (mln) 263.95$ 245.99$ 280.78$ 256.64$ 178.01$
Total Implementation Cost (mln) 1,047.36$
Nigeria GDP (PPP) (mln) 378,000$ 396,900$ 416,745$ 437,582$ 450,710$
Project/GDP 0.070% 0.062% 0.067% 0.059% 0.039%
Cost Forecast
4

E-Textbook cost subsidy:
There are several opportunities to decrease the costs of e-textbooks:
 Negotiating with publishers lower ratio of DRM to prices of printed textbooks
 Use of open course systems (OpenCourseWare, Khan Academy, etc.)
 Subsidy by providers of content management systems
 Subsidy by Telco’s and technology companies (Cisco, Amazon, Microsoft)
 Development of intra-African capabilities for content development
 Flexible pricing models and content selection – pay-per-content
Tablet cost subsidy:
Currently, Amazon offers an 18% ($114 versus $139) discount on its Kindle if ordered with
sponsored offers and advertisements. For Africa we could envision the following structure of the
subsidies, based on the unit retail price:
 15% – subsidy by advertisement offers and promotions
 10% – volume discount by device manufacturer
 10% – bandwidth usage discount by telecom companies
 20% – subsidy by national governments
 20% – contribution by international donors (such as World Bank, NGOs)
B. Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa and Sub-Saharan
Africa
Extrapolating the cost structure for Nigeria to Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa
and the entire region of Sub-Saharan Africa it is possible to forecast the total implementation
costs for SSA reaching 58% enrollment of the secondary school-aged children. The figure stands
around $6 billion spread across four years, representing 0.11% to 0.13% of SSA’s annual GDP
of $1100 billion.
For further information refer to ―Cost Analysis.xlsx‖

Total Potential Secondary School Students (mln) 55.04
Current Enrollment Rate in Secondary Schools 28%
Cost of Student Device (Tablet WiFi+3G) 64.75$
Maintanance Cost per Device (20% of Device Cost) 12.95$
Cost of E-Textbook 1.00$
E-Textbooks per Student 10
Ratio SSA/Nigeria (on total population basis) 5.548
Number of Secondary Schools 39560
Annual Broadband Cost per School 6,000.00$
Cloud Computing Price (per hour) (Amazon EC2 price) 0.32$
Hours Cloud Computing (10 hours per day, for 250 days) 2500
Teachers (1 teacher per 35 students) 770,560
Classrooms (1 classroom per 35 students) 770,560
Cost to Upgrade a Classroom $1,000
SSA GDP Per Capita 1,279.07$
Annual Teacher Salary (5 times GDP) 6,395.35$
Cost of Training Time per Teacher (2 months) 1,065.89$
Annual Growth Rate 3%
Nigeria GDP Growth Rate 5%
Assumptions
1
2
3
Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year Steady State Sub-Total % of Project Cost
Secondary School Students (mln) 0 6.27456 7.92576 12.76928 13.5354368
% of Total 0% 30% 30% 40%
Enrollment Ratio of Total 28% 38% 48% 58%
Student Devices Bought (mln) 2.69696 8.09088 8.09088 8.09088 0.7661568
% of Total 10% 30% 30% 30%
Teachers Trained 231,168 231,168 308,224 0 21,890
% of Total Teachers 30% 30% 40% 0%
Cost of Devices (mln) 174.63$ 523.88$ 523.88$ 523.88$ 49.61$ 1,746.28$ 30%
Annual Maintanence Cost (mln) 34.93$ 139.70$ 244.48$ 349.26$ 359.18$ 768.36$ 13%
E-Textbooks DRM -$ 62.75$ 79.26$ 127.69$ 135.35$ 269.70$ 5%
Internet Access (mln) 237.36$ 237.36$ 237.36$ 237.36$ 237.36$ 949.44$ 16%
Cloud Computing (mln) 31.65$ 31.65$ 31.65$ 31.65$ 31.65$ 126.59$ 2%
Upgrading Classrooms (mln) 770.56$ -$ -$ -$ -$ 770.56$ 13%
Classroom Maintanance (mln) 154.11$ 154.11$ 154.11$ 154.11$ 462.34$ 8%
Teacher Training (mln) 246.40$ 246.40$ 328.53$ -$ 23.33$ 821.33$ 14%
Total Cost (mln) 1,495.52$ 1,395.85$ 1,599.27$ 1,423.95$ 990.59$
Total Implementation Cost (mln) 5,914.60$
Nigeria GDP (PPP) (mln) 1,100,000$ 1,155,000$ 1,212,750$ 1,273,388$ 1,311,589$
Project/GDP 0.136% 0.121% 0.132% 0.112% 0.076%
Cost Forecast
4

Conclusions
The student devices account for 30% of projected implementation costs which for Nigeria
amount to $314 million spread out across 4 years, or 1.3% of the annual government spending on
education. Assuming that international donors contribute to 50% of the cost of the project, the
financial burden appears to be manageable. Also there are several ways to reduce costs:
 Negotiate more favorable DRM agreements with publishers
 Start implementation in larger schools in urban areas
 Schools with internet connection could be used as training centers outside of school
hours. Thus they could benefit the general population and be a source of revenue
 Several technology companies offer products that span the entire e-textbook ecosystem,
thus increasing synergies and decreasing integration costs
 Crowd sourcing models could be used to translate content to local languages, providing
benefits to students, local people and companies
 Public-private partnerships could achieve large synergies and drive costs down. Such a
model is at the basis of the rapid mobile expansion in Africa
There are potential challenges that should be considered:
• Starting with secondary education, will not solve knowledge gaps for primary school
students when they enter secondary schools
• Implementation efficiency and bureaucracy
• Teacher and talent quality
• Translating content to local languages
• Coordinating multiple partners
• Controlling learning effectiveness of students
• Incorporating important topics into course content:
– HIV/AIDS education
– violence/crime prevention
– promoting knowledge economy
– focus on practical affairs
– technology and media training

VIII. Further Ideas
There are a number of governments which have undertaken initiatives to digitize the educational
sector, such as South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Russia, Philippines and California. Their
experiences could provide valuable insights with regards to the current study.
1. Current World Bank projects for education in Nigeria
 Nigeria - State Education Program Investment Project: Project info
 Nigeria Federal Science & Technical Education at Post-Basic Levels (STEPB):
Project Info
 Nigeria State Education Sector Project: Project Info
2. UNESCO has already electronic libraries with materials assisting teachers: site
 UNESCO has program for using ICT to promote electronic education:
http://en.unesco-iicba.org/node/28
 In Washington: Karolina Ordon, +1 202 458-5971, kordon@worldbank.org -
cooperation WB and UNESCO
3. Impact of 2010 FIFA World Cup on social networking and ICT in Africa
4. Using videos as complimentary educational materials
5. Technical and vocational training is critical
6. Web 2.0, emphasis on: Skype, Wikipedia, Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
 Integrating local customs and culture with Web 2.0 (link)
8. Social media (like awareNet) helps promote self-respect and decrease violence amongst
youths in Africa
9. Problem: electricity
 Rwanda: World Bank funded a fleet of ICT buses: article
 Challenge: lack of electricity; possible solution diesel generators?
11. Government incentives for knowledge-based society
 Taxation
 Bureaucracy

12. In order to support the rapidly growing school system and deal with the unparalleled
shortage of 85,000 teachers, the Tanzania Beyond Tomorrow initiative will use
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and involve Tanzania’s Ministry of
Education and Vocational Training with multinational technology companies like
Accenture, Cisco, Intel and Microsoft and not-for-profit organizations, like NetHope,
Plan International, African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF), World Vision and
BSI Limited. (link)
13. Thin clients + cloud computing
14. Broadband access: "In 2009, the World Bank released its Information and
Communications for Development report that showed access to broadband boosts
economic growth in all countries, but most especially in developing ones. The study
showed that in developing countries, for every ten percentage points of broadband
penetration, their economies grew by 1.38 percent. The report, conducted in 120
countries between 1980 and 2006, developed countries’ economies grew by 1.21 percent.
Broadband access is key for economic growth and even more vital in developing
countries. " (link)
 Broadband cost has decreased roughly by a factor of 10
15. Creating a system of classroom with clouds and cost-effective computers and the
distributing mobile devices to students for home use:
 http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/10/mobile-phones-now-primary-access-to-
internet-in-nigeria/
 mLearning vs. eLearning: article
16. Off-line data is cheaper than online (storage costs fall faster than broadband costs)
17. Chinese Telecom firms: In 2004, Huawei won a US$ 80 million contract with Vmobile
in Nigeria for a GSM network. In 2005, Nigeria signed with Huawei and ZTE for a
CDMA 450 network and national agriculture network totaling nearly US$ 100 million.
(link)
18. Can we develop Pay-as-you-go educational system?
 Diminish upfront/fixed cost
 Optimize resource (internet access, phone use, textbook use) utilization
19. Building large online library

20. Semantic web to create educational content - and then content is flexibly assembled as
per needs
21. Interact with CourseSmart http://www.coursesmart.com/ourproducts
22. We must make distinction between trends in US and in Africa in terms of e-Readers and
mobile
23. Can we develop a mobile homework/examination game?
 For homework the student receives on their mobile a number of problems, one at a
time. If they answer it correctly they get some "reward" (a smiley, reward points).
Concept similar to Khan Academy, but for mobile
26. Big push for youth development and entrepreneurship in Africa. African Union 17th
Summit
27. Socratic way of teaching - more interaction among students and professor
28. If we partner with well-known content provider, big publishers might be more willing to
collaborate

IX. Partners
There are a number of potential partners that operate in the field of education, technology and
publishing. They include large multinational companies, grassroots startups, NGOs and intra-
governmental organizations and academic institutions. Below is a list of such partners.
A. Multinational companies
 Microsoft and NComputing: link
o Classroom-in-a-box: link
o Using ICT in Nigeria to help students find jobs: link
o Windows® MultiPoint Server™ 2011 can reduce the total cost of educational
computing by 66%, compared to a traditional 1:1 computing environment. By
allowing multiple users to simultaneously share one computer – each with his or
her own independent Windows experience – educational institutions can afford
to give every student individual access to PCs (link)
 Google
 Nokia
 Cisco
 Pearson Foundation
o Pearson Virtual Learning: link
 McGraw-Hill
B. Grassroots startups
 Wyse Technologies - client cloud computing: link
o Cloud computing: computer labs used for 2.5 million students in 2500
schools: article
 SchoolNet (link): provider of data-driven educational software to improve
learning. Tested in the US
 awareNet (link): creates student oriented social communities
 eKhaya ICT (link): focusing on developing Marginalized Rural Areas (MRA). A
solution is using solar power for energy
 Computer Aid (link): provider of refurbished computers
 RM Education (link): maker of educational equipment
 MIT EPROM (link) Collaborate with them to develop mobile phone applications
related to education
o Introduce such classes in high schools: it will spur entrepreneurism
 Upside Learning (link): mobile learning solutions
 Course Smart (link) - flexible provider for e-Textbooks
C. NGOs
 Upside Learning (link): mobile learning solutions
 Commonwealth of Learning: link

o The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental
organization created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to
encourage the development and sharing of open learning/distance
education knowledge, resources and technologies. COL is helping
developing nations improve access to quality education and training (link)
 UNESCO link
 Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA), conference DETA (Distance
Education and Teachers' Training in Africa
 Open Educational Resources (OER)
 Projects in Nigerian Universities
o CASE STUDY: IBADAN UNIVERSITY: link
o CASE STUDY: UNIVERSITY OF JOS: link
 Pan-African Pedagogical ICT Observatory: link
 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
 International Development and Research Center (IDRC Acacia)
 eGranary Digital Library: 14 million off-line documents free to use: link
 mLearning (link) - mLearning refers to services that provide access to or deliver
educational content and experiences through mobile devices using a number of
technologies including Bluetooth, GSM/GPRS/3G, Wi-Fi or WiMAX, via various
mediums with the ability to learn anytime, anywhere.
 Using USSD (link) instead of SMS (text). USSD creates a connection to Telcos
servers and can be free of charge
 Global Campaign for Education (link)
 Center For Global Development: Blog on Mobile
 Room to Read (link)
D. Intra-governmental organizations
 UN and UNESCO
 UN Broadband Commission (link)
 USAID
 World Links (link): was part of World Bank, focuses on the intersection between
ICT and Education
E. Academic institutions
 MIT Open CourseWare for High School (OCW)
 Harvard ManageMentor: link
 The Open University: link
 African Virtual University (AVU)
o eLearning Africa initiative: link
o Learning in Africa by mobile phone: article

X. Supporting Documents
There are a number of supporting documents and reports which broaden the scope and the detail
of the current study:
 ―AT Kearney - Do Readers Dream of Electronic Books.pdf‖
 ―BridgeIt Presentation - Using mobile solutions in classrooms.ppt‖
 ―Cost Analysis - New.xlsx‖
 ―Electronic Textbook Supporting Presentation.pptx‖
 ―Haas - Pearson E-Textbooks.pdf‖
 ―IMF SSA 2011.pdf‖
 ―Mobile Services in Developing Countries.pptx‖
 ―Nigeria World Bank project 1.pdf‖
 ―Nigeria World Bank project 2 - overview on educational system.pdf‖
 ―Proposed interactive classroom.pptx‖
 ―Publishing value chain.docx‖
 ―PwC - eBooks-Trends-Developments.pdf‖
 ―Report on the state of publishing June 2011.doc‖
 ―Roadmap for the Nigerian Education Sector.pdf‖
 ―Study on netbooks.pdf‖
 ―UNDP Human Development Report Nigeria 2008-2009.pdf‖
 ―UNESCO Costs for Education Development in DRC, Nigeria, Sudan part 1.pdf‖
 ―UNESCO Costs for Education Development in DRC, Nigeria, Sudan part 2.pdf‖
 ―UNESCO Teacher and Education Quality.pdf‖
 ―UNESCO World Data on Education.pdf‖
 ―WEF Elementary Education Value Chain.pdf‖
 ―WEF report on Africa.pdf‖
 ―World Bank ICT for Education in Nigeria.pdf‖
 ―World Bank Knowledge, Productivity and Innovation in Nigeria.pdf‖

Africa e-Textbook Study Revised 3

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (7)

Similar to Africa e-Textbook Study Revised 3

Similar to Africa e-Textbook Study Revised 3 (20)

Africa e-Textbook Study Revised 3