Universal access to ICT and lifelong learning: Uganda's experience

Access to electronic information requires a well‐developed information infrastructure currently lacking in the developing countries. To compound the problem, prospects of achieving lifelong learning are increasingly dependent on access to information held across electronic networks. Uganda's population, similar to much of Sub‐Saharan Africa, never had the opportunity to attend formal school, rendering lifelong‐learning prospects as the last resort to meaningful integration into the knowledge society. To many in developing countries, universal access to ICT‐based information, as a social justice, is a feasible remedy to society's lifelong learning challenges. This paper reports on a case study of the school‐based telecenter (SBT) model to assess appropriateness of the school‐centered approach to universal access, currently under implementation by SchoolNet Uganda. The SBTs, established on a pilot basis, utilize VSAT‐based technology to connect schools and neighbouring communities to the internet. This paper documents the appropriateness of school‐based access points for neighbouring communities at two selected SchoolNet‐Uganda site schools. School‐based access has policy implications for developing countries' approach to universal access and lifelong learning in the emerging knowledge society.