ДИСТАНЦИОННОЕ ОБУЧЕНИЕ В ОБРАЗОВАНИИ СТРАН СУБСАХАРСКОЙ АФРИКИ

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This article discusses some digital techniques used in the distance education in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. Nowadays in Sub-Saharan Africa, there are a quarter of a billion young people, who are of the optimal age for education. Their number is predicted to triple by 2050; that is why the educational coverage of young people and the education quality improving are the issues of great relevance now. The education is of paramount importance to the development in the African countries. The education can stimulate the economic growth, reduce the poverty, improve the people’s health, promote the gender equality, foster the political stability, support the sustainable development and help resolve conflicts if any. Africa is the world region, where the largest number of children deprived of learning opportunities lives; the reasons for this include the poverty, the lack of educational facilities, trained teachers and transportation means. The latter is necessary for an attendance opportunity for everyone, especially in a case of disability. Also, the distance learning has become particularly relevant in the recent years, and especially so in the face of the pandemic COVID‑19. The Sub-Saharan African countries keep adapting to their new environment; in particular, in order to ensure the education continuity, they make steps in mastering of digital techniques including the distance learning technologies. Those educational technologies are of great promise for the education quality improving in the SSA countries as they are the innovative solutions to the traditional educational problems. The distance technologies can overcome any geographic barriers, provide with large access to educational resources, ensure ongoing professional development for teachers by way of the online courses and webinars, optimize assessment of students’ outcomes, facilitate the information sharing and technology mastering, open the access to other learning resources, etc. And yet, there stay a lot of barriers to the widespread adoption of the educational technology including the lack of access to the reliable internet and the mobile connectivity, the high cost of mobile devices, the low levels of the digital literacy even among teachers, let alone students, etc. Overcoming of the existing obstacles is essential so that to maximize the potential of the above-said educational technologies.