“In 1913, the income gap between the world’s richest and poorest people was 13 to 1 (UNDP, 2000). By 1997, the income gap was 74 to 1.

In 1999, the richest 200 people in the world had a combined wealth of US $1,135 billion, whereas the total income of the poorest half billion people in all developing countries barely exceeded 10 percent of that amount (UNDP, 2000).

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (1993), in 1960 one in four children went to school in sub-Saharan Africa, one in two in Asia, and just over one in two in Latin America. Developing countries lacked educational infrastructures, teachers, economic structures, and technologies to support the demand for education at all levels.” (Shalni Gulati, 2008)

Since the 1990s, open and distance learning has gained increasing legitimacy, as evident in the policy statements by the main international agencies (i.e., UNESCO, European Commission, World Bank) and various national policies (Perraton, 2000). Lack of resources, including buildings, desks, books, and qualified teachers, has been a significant obstacle for open and distance learning. While the success of the UK Open University, established in1969, is cited as an example that led to the opening of over 25 open universities in developing countries (Perraton, 2000), it was the University of South Africa in 1946 that became the first to offer single-mode, distance education (Mackintosh, 2005). Arguably, the aims of distance education in developing countries are different from those of developed countries. In developed countries, moves to widen participation and lifelong learning for non-traditional learners are closely linked to the development of a strong knowledge economy. In contrast, developing countries’ motives for distance learning are to provide basic and literacy education to large numbers of poor people (Zhang, 2005).

In fact, what is worrying is that, it seems like much of what we hear and read about the brand new trends of using technology in education, is mainly targeting audiences from developed countries. Moreover, studies and observations conducted on this matter would more likely concern what is happening in the top 10 world richest countries than what is going on in developing ones.

In his blog on the World Bank website, Michael Trucano, World Bank's Senior ICT and Education Policy Specialist, emphasises on the actions taken by developing countries governments and international organisations and the trends “under the radar” in the field of educational technology. Below one of the most brilliant ideas and some worth the discovering innovations.

LOW COST TABLETS

"Whereas five years ago there was a great deal of (new) excitement about low cost laptops for students in so-called 'developing countries', in 2012 much of the mindshare previously occupied by such programs is being taken up by large scale initiatives to put tablet computers into the hands of students.  

While in industrialized countries there are scores of iPad in education projects, in developing countries much of the discussions is around the use of lower cost Android tablets or simple e-book readers. Large projects like those in Russia, Turkey and Thailand, where plans to purchase hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions of low cost tablets, are now underway and, we expect, represent the leading edge of a very large wave of activity in this regard." (Trucano, 2014)

In November 2014, 50 sites were equipped with digital drums and work has just finished on the design of the second generation Digital Kiosk. “The UK's fanless computer specialist Aleutia is now working on a new open source, low power computer system to squeeze into the table-topped repurposed oil drum that will become the Digital Drum.”

The collaboration between UNICEF and Norway's Design Without Borders began in 2012 to work on the design of the next generation kiosks.

The firm's interaction designer spent considerable time getting to know the needs, interest and skills of the young people in rural Uganda who would be using the system.

“The system comes complete with webcams, microphones, speakers and a USB charging port for juicing up portable devices or saving/sharing files. The three screens are larger than the wall-mounted kiosks, each fronted by scratch-resistant plexiglass. There's a single larger public screen up top for the delivery of video learning or training packages to a larger audience, or perhaps a village entertainment hub for a budding local video-jockey.”

This 2.0 version proves the aim of scaling the system and preparing it for global rollout.

In fact, in early 2014, UNICEF launched the exactly same project in Burundi. In her post on unicef’s blog, EVA GUERDA RODRIGUEZ, team member of Unicef Burundi, pointed out how important was the country’s need for a solution that “address the issue of power [only 3% of the population have access to power], the shortage of material, and also the amount of time that teachers and students can devote to the learning].

By the end of the year of 2012, and due to the closure of a big refugee camp in Tanzania, a large number of repatriated children were integrated the the schools in Bujumbura, Burundi’s capital, what increased the difficulties and the loads with which schools and local communities are confronted. Students per class rose to an average of 72 – which forces the schools to work on a double-shift system.