Guinea-Bissau

The Republic of Guinea-Bissau (Portuguese: República da Guiné-Bissau) is a country in western Africa, and one of the smallest states in continental Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west.

Its size is nearly 37,000 square kilometres (14,000 sq mi) with an estimated population of 1.6 million.

Formerly the Portuguese colony of Portuguese Guinea, upon independence, the name of its capital, Bissau, was added to the country's name to prevent confusion with the Republic of Guinea.

There are 21 living languages spoken in Guinea-Bissau with the most prominent being the Balanta Ketonho. The elite in the civil and public services speak Crioulo, a mixture of Portuguese and ethnic languages. Portuguese is the official language.

Guinea Bissau is classified 172nd out of 177 countries featured in the United Nations Human Development Index of 2004, with 88% of the population living on less than USD$1 a day. Agriculture is the dominant economic sector and engages 82% of the labour force with the remaining 18% in the industrial and services sectors. Industry contributes approximately 15% to GDP and includes a sugar refinery, a rice and groundnut processing plant, brewing, and urban construction. Guinea Bissau ranks sixth in the world for cashew-nut production.

The recent discovery of oil fields along the coast, with estimated production capacity of 30,000 to 60,000 barrels per day, has restored hope and should contribute to the resolution of the country’s recurrent government budgetary problems.

e-learning

Primary education consists of four years followed by secondary education which takes three to six years in the specific field of choice. Education is compulsory from age seven to 13, but in 2000 UNICEF estimated that 65.4% of children between the ages of five to 14 years in Guinea Bissau were engaged in trading, farming, or domestic labour. The numbers are worse during the cashew harvest when school-going children are withdrawn from school to work the fields. Adult literacy rate was projected at 58.1% for males and 27.4% for females in 2003.2 Youth literacy rates3 (between ages 15 to 24 for both sexes) stood at 61% in 2002

Telecommunications

This is all unpromising for e-learning or ICT in schools.

In 2003 there were 10,600 main telephone lines, fewer than the 13,120 in 1997. The decline was because of the destruction of the telephone infrastructure during the war. By 2005 the number had increased again and there were 67,0004 mobile phones in use– an average of 49 per 1,000 people.

Internet access is available only in Bissau, the capital, where many cyber cafés offer low-speed connection. The youth are mainly the occasional users of the Internet. In 2006 Guinea Bissau had about 30,000 Internet users.

There is no nationwide coverage of the mobile phone networks. Only Bissau, the capital, boasts two operators: Areeba and Telecel. Further, there is a limited number of fixed lines in the other big cities and localities. There is no telephone infrastructure, mobile or fixed, or Internet in the rural areas.

Guinea Bissau has no ICT policy.

Electrification covers only 12%5 of the country and tariffs are five times the levels of its neighbour, Senegal. Currently, only Bissau has power supply for 18 hours a day, from 6 p.m. till noon of the next day. The other big cities like Bafata, Cacinek Cachea, and Catio usually have power supplied from 6 p.m. till midnight of each day.

For more see the infoDev 2007 report at http://www.infodev.org/en/Publication.408.html

It does not seem useful to turn this into a Country Report as the country currently lacks promise for ICT and e-learning.

Interesting Programmes

• CyaBite is a school of IT and Computer Science located in São Paulo, Brazil. Since 1988 CyaBite has been training thousands of students, initially in their units in São Paulo and more recently through distance learning. Vocational courses offered include Professional Administrative Assistant, Typing Course, Graphic Design, Web Design, Secretarial Course amongst others. CyaBite can be accessed by students in all Brazilian States, as well as students living in Portugal, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, East Timor as well as Macau in China. CyaBite web site is at http://www.ciabyte.com.br

• Imaginologia provides on line courses with emphasis in the medical field. The website aims provide further training to the medical community of the Portuguese language (Brazil, Angola, Portugal, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Guinea-Bissau and East Timor. Imaginologia web site is at http://www.imaginologia.com.br/cursos-a-distancia.asp

• NEaD - Núcleo de Educação a Distância da UNESP The Distance Learning Center of the Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho is located in São Paulo, Brazil. NEAD provides a framework to support academic courses, helping to keep the quality and credibility of University. Courses are available in the form of in the form of extension courses, undergraduate or postgraduate level and are available to students from Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Sao Tome and Principe. UNESP website is at http://www.unesp.br/

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