..:: Mauritius Science Portal

The Government of Mauritius is fully committed to develop the ICT sector as the fifth pillar of our economy and in this context it is important to have a high level of awareness and understanding of IT among the public. With the objective of e-powering people, various activities are undertaken to bridge the digital divide and create an information-based society in Mauritius.

In particular, the National Computer Board, a para-statal body operating under the aegis of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, spreads ICT literacy and creates awareness on applications and uses of ICT.

The Cyber Caravan Project was launched in 2000 and aims at making IT facilities available to the community by providing ICT Training and Awareness Courses.

The ICT Training is conducted over 7 days and is free of charge to the unemployed, women associations and youth clubs. Private organisations such as Regional Training Centre, Senior Citizens Council and Farmers Service Centre are claimed a fee.

The Cyber Caravan Project aims at making IT facilities available in the most isolated areas in Mauritius. The main objectives of the Cyber Caravan Project are:

To raise the level of knowledge about ICT and the level of competence in using personal computers and common computer applications.
To promote and encourage ICT literacy.
To ensure all computer users understand the advantages of using a personal computer.
To enhance the employability of all people, to enable them to be part of the global Information Society

As at 27 th January 2009, about 74,034 persons have followed ICT Literacy, IC3 and ICT Awareness Courses. In 2008, 12,595 people have followed ICT Courses as follows: 375 people on IC3 and 12,220 people on ICT Awareness.

The National Computer Board (NCB) is implementing the Prime Minister’s Universal ICT Education Programme (UIEP) since September 2006. One of the priorities of the programme is the introduction of the internationally acknowledged Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC3) course with a view of making it the benchmark for digital literacy/proficiency in Mauritius. The programme aims at imparting computer proficiency skills to students, workers, unemployed and the population at large in line with Government’s vision of accelerating the transformation of Mauritius into a cyber-island and in developing ICT into the fifth pillar of the economy.

The IC3 course is of 45 hours duration and is delivered in the computer labs of some 55 State Secondary Schools after school hours on week-days and during weekends. There exist nine time table options. The course comprises three core modules as follows: Computing Fundamentals, Key Applications (Word Processing, Spreadsheets, and Presentation Package) and Living Online.

The Community Empowerment Programme (CEP) is meant to enable the creation and sharing of information and knowledge for community development. It is in line with the Government ambition to build an information society, and to encourage the development of local content and creativity.

Development of a Community Web Portal ( CWP),
Identifying the application and use of ICT for social development
Empowering the local community with ICT skills and cheap access
Setting up of computer clubs on a regional basis

Meetings have been held with District councils to explain the project and to set up Implementation Working Groups to develop local content. District councils will identify a Regional Network Coordinator for each district to monitor the progress. Training of the IWGs in ICT has already started in some regions.

In the context of the Community Empowerment Programme (CEP), the National Computer Board is setting up computer clubs in collaboration with Ministry of Youth & Sports, Ministry of Womens Rights, Child Development and Family Welfare, Microsoft and Mauritius Telecom. The objectives of the setting up of Computer Clubs are in line with the objectives of the CEP, namely:

Facilitating the democratisation of ICTs in order to contribute in the alleviation of poverty within the community through the use of ICTs and access to shared resources;
Increase ICT literacy of the population and
Enhance ICT access and access to online information for the community.

22 computer clubs have been set up in Youth centers and 15 computer clubs in Women Centres. Computer clubs in 54 Social Welfare Centres and 125 Community Centres are being planned in collaboration with Ministry of Social Security, National Solidarity and Senior Citizens Welfare and Reform Institutions, and Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund.

This project is aimed at instilling the Internet culture in the public. 10 post offices with 30 PCs & 10 new telecommunication lines of the Mauritius Post Ltd have already been equipped with computer equipment and provide free Internet access to the public. 93 post offices will be equipped with 5 PC each with ADSL Internet. A charging scheme will be applied (Rs 10 per 15 minutes), while exempted people include unemployed, widows, disabled.