(For Principals & ICT Directors)

WEF has published its 2006-2007 annual report on how 122 countries in the world stack in terms of ICT and network readiness. The report has confirmed that information technology is a primary catalyst of changes of the way we live and work. It describes the current behaviour of individuals, government and organisations being the stakeholders as the beneficiaries of the information evolution. It points out that learning has changed from a teacher-led class to a student-centric experience accentuated by self-learning, peer to peer teaching and discovery based processes. The next few years will see the convergence of 3 major trends:

• The continuing delegation of functions from central to local governments (Editor: applies to organisations in general)
• The maturation of outsourcing strategies such as from the public to the private sector (Editor: use resources outside the walls to maximise cost effectiveness)
• The emergence of local global players such as major cities and economic centres (Editor: schools are entities that will play a more visible role than before)

Law fashioned in this fast-moving environment will function as a hopelessly trailing indicator. Organisations are best placed to work together to resolve tension by adopting a code of conduct to govern their activities. The report proceeded to explain how Japan at 15th place has introduced a u-Japan policy to ensure broadband access for its 135 million citizens by 2010, and Estonia- a small country of 1.6 million has jumped into the top 20 league (ahead of New Zealand at 22nd place). The report is worth a read by senior educators. Source: www.weforum.org/gitr