As of 2002, the official illiteracy rate in Senegal is 60.7%, for individuals 15 and above,
according to the “World Bank world indicators database”.The illiteracy rate for females 15 and above
is 70.4%.A quick glance at the African
continent reveals the total and female illiteracy rates for the following
countries: Mali (72.8%, 82.7%), Ivory Coast (49.3%, 60.3%), Morocco (49.3%, 61.7%), and South Africa (14%, 14.7%).Senegal is above most of the countries in the West
African region in terms of literacy rate, however the
many educational problems need to be addressed in order to improve the current
situation.For the purpose of this
project, we will focus on post-secondary educational institutions that feed the
IT professional pipeline.
Education
The Senegalese education system has inherited
the French system due to close colonial ties.Thus, after obtaining their “Baccalaureat”
(equivalent of the high school diploma), Senegalese students pursue a four-year
degree, or choose to attend shorter programs focused on acquiring technical
skills.It is to be noted that English
is the mandatory second language in the educational system; however the
students acquire more writing than oral skills.
Several
centers provide training:
·The
Ministry of Economy and Finance where there is a centre in the Department of
Automation of Information,
·The
African Centre for Higher Education in Management,
·The
ENSUT, the main institution for initial computer training.
Nowadays, in addition there are a few private and
public schools which offer informatics training for programmers and program
analysts.Among them we cite:AFI, CIOP, FTF, CEMIS, ESIT, ISI, CTI.
The
following statistics taken from provide a minimal insight on the pipeline that
the ENSUT provides to the IT labor market in Senegal (http://francophonie.w3sites.net/senegal.html): public administration (15%), public firms (52%),
and private firms (33%).
Though
a bit outdated, the following information taken from a case study done at the University of Pennsylvania by the Professor Ali B. Ali-Dinar does provide a useful overview of the institutions
created to remedy to the lack of knowledge in ICTs.A meeting held in October 1985 by the National
Informatics Committee took note of the activities undertaken in this field and
prepared the ground for future policy.With regard to professional education the following steps were taken:
·Opening
of an engineering programme at the National University
of Technology (EcoleNationaleSupÈrieureUniversitaire de
Technologie, ENSUT) in 1988/89.
·Establishment
of an Informatics Master's degree course and of a DEA in Informatics at the
Faculty of Sciences of the CheikhAntaDiopUniversity, Dakar.
·Opening
in 1990 of the University of Saint-Louis, where a Department of
Informatics and Applied Mathematics was established.
·Introduction
of Informatics into the Educational System (Projetd'Introduction de l'Informatiquedans le SyustËmeEducatif, PIISE)
·Launching
of an operation named "200 microcomputers" intended to be a plan to
provide computers for secondary schools and colleges.
Human Resources
According to the Economic department of the French
Embassy, there are approximately 188 technology firms (products and services)
in Senegal concentrated between Dakar and Thies.These
companies employ more than 1,000 full-time individuals among which we count an
estimated 100 engineers.Most of these
companies are owned by nationals.Foreign nationals often work in multinationals such as Bull, or ABM.
The
Future
This macro-picture of the IT labor in Senegal merely depicts the potentials that the country offers in terms of IT
workforce in the years to come.It is
undeniable that ICTs have touched an important part
of social and economic environments.However, there is still a lot of work to do in order for developing
nations, and Senegal in particular, to catch up to the more developed
nations.With the Internet, Senegaleses have the opportunity to gain a significant
amount of training from their home country, thus avoiding the financial burden
of going overseas.Indeed, as Senegal dives into the 21st century, it will have to find ways to
offer a competitive and trained workforce in order to attract foreign companies.For
example, Senegal, through the Ministry for the Modernization of the State and
of Technology, has studied with the American operator GTE (Verizon
since 2000) the possibility of introducing a network within the country,
serving 30 points, linked by satellite to the University of New York (Project
SMKS), and going as far as enabling Senegalese students to obtain American
diplomas.Also, teleconferencing, teleteaching, and e-training appear as some of the many
means that will be available in Senegal as soon as the culture is
ready.
