Liberia’s Education Minister George K. Werner has emphasized the significance of  Mobile Learning, adding that it is an innovative way to provide quality learning opportunities for a huge segment of the population.

Serving recently as one of the panelists at the  UNESCO Mobile Learning Forum in Paris, France, Minister Werner said Mobile Learning provides the means for a life-long learning that enhances peace and stability, increases social development for boys and girls, is a potential for research purpose for universities and creates avenues for the promotion of the quality of studies for working class people and others.

Minister Werner also said Mobile Learning is a unique opportunity for female students who might get pregnant and cannot attend classes, but could use the technology to remain in school through Mobile Education and that it can be used to outline some major policy issues through public-private partnership.

Other panelists at the UNESCO Forum included Noomane Fehri, Minister of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy of Tunisia, Quiteria Hemenegildo Mabote, Inspector General for the Ministry of Education, Mozambique and Luvsanjamts Lkam, Director of Innovation for the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of Mongolia.

Also on the panel were Pastor Ngoua Nneme, Minister of the Economy of Gabon, Anusha Rahman Khan, Minister of State for Information Technology, Pakistan and Joseph Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology, Kenya.

The forum was organized to derive strategies and practices to maximize the potential of mobile technologies in education.

The five-day event brought together technology experts, government representatives, education specialists, project managers, researchers and industry partners from around the world. 

A United Nations report says there are six billion mobile phone subscriptions in the world today, used by a population of seven billion and access to the internet is growing fast.

The UN says this combined with the technical improvement of mobile devices and the development of dynamic learning content has led to a great increase in the educational potential of information and communication technologies, notably in communities where books and schools are scarce. 

Speaking at the opening of the gathering, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova asked, “How can technology ensure all young people, and not just a privileged few, have access to quality learning opportunities? 

Director Bokova said this year’s event gathered together world technology experts, government representatives, education specialists, project managers, researchers and industry partners to share experiences on how best to forge access and quality to ensure all students receive the education and training they need to fully participate in knowledge economies. 

She said worldwide access to and use of inexpensive smart-phones and tablet computers has grown enormously. Ms Bokova identified four key areas in which mobile technology could and should promote quality education:

* to support the influx of new students entering education systems in the next decade;

* to better connect learning to work; to ensure genuine lifelong learning; and to transform the lives of girls and women.

Isaac Yeah