INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: DIFFUSION AND APPLICATION OF ICT
Chapter 2
2.4. Spread and Quality of ICT Access in Azerbaijan in the Focus of Regional Situation
2.4.2. Education
The results of the survey show that the majority of schools are not equipped with computers and other means necessary for ICT introduction. The survey shows that only 16 percent of schools have computers in those seven regions of the country and only 30 percent of them were equipped with modern generation computers (7 percent with Pentium and Celeron).
In Baku, only 22 percent of computers in schools are using modern generation computers. According to data from the survey, there is one computer per every 164 school children in Baku, and 1 per 230 school children in regions.
These results contradict data published earlier as a result of a survey undertaken for the international organization (Statistic Report of UNESCO, Towards a Knowledge-Based Economy. Azerbaijan Country Assesment Report. 2003). According to this data, there was one computer per 30 school children. This would mean that every classroom in the country was equipped with a computer, which is far from the reality.
Access to the Internet as well as to the development of such up-to-date methods of education as interactive and distance learning is quite limited. The survey indicates that in schools equipped with early generation computers, the equipment is used as an auxiliary means only to teach computers skills.
Another negative feature was the low level of school teachers' knowledge of computer technologies and skills to use computers both in Baku and throughout the regions. As a consequence, there is low productivity of the educational process and weak motivation among schoolchildren to understand the importance of computer technologies for the development of their intellectual potential.
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