ICT for Illiteracy Eradication -- Tabluter

One of the groups that are targeted in the ICT4IE project is rural women and women in deprived contexts. Although partnerships were made with different NGOs in rural and remote governorates as well as IT clubs to have access to the maximum number of illiterates (women and men), due to social customs and social traditions, women were still unreached since they are not allowed to leave home to attend illiteracy classes in the NGO or IT club in their governorate.
To overcome such an obstacle, innovative solutions that recognize local norms were needed. For example, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), in partnership with the ICT Trust Fund and local NGOs in the Siwa Oasis (a remote oasis in the midst of the west desert in Egypt), has implemented a local project to produce a new infrastructure to help in increasing access to ICT for the local community. This tool, the "Tabluter", is based on the traditional wooden table known in Egypt as the tablya. The tablutor is a customized ergonomic embedded computer on a tableya. The embedded computer is a single CPU that runs for four independent users. Each user is equipped with his/her own screen, keyboard, mouse and sound card. The Tabluter is situated in an individual home where IT classes and illiteracy eradication classes are being held. This way, the Tabluter gives empowerment of rural and remote communities, particularly women. It offers a unique chance to gain access to ICT from the comfort and privacy of their homes thus respecting community traditions which has been standing in the way to cross the digital divide and eradicate illiteracy.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• illiteracy
• eradication
• ICT
• education
• community
• development
• rural
• areas
• Siwa