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Digital Transformation in STEM Education: Leveraging Telecommunications Infrastructure to Enhance Engineering Readiness in Developing Economies
Subject area: Science,Engineering and Technology · Area of research: Technology
Abstract
This conceptual review paper evaluates the potential that sophisticated telecommunications infrastructures, namely 5G networks, fibre-optic, and wireless broadband, can have on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning in developing economies to enhance access, innovation in pedagogy, and workforce readiness. Concentrating on Zimbabwe as a significant example and referring to similar programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa, the paper has allied existing policy publications, engineering-education frameworks, and technology-for-development (ICT4D) literature to outline three fundamental subjects: (1) how connectivity can enable a wider curriculum provision and virtual laboratories; (2) spheres of curriculum and teacher-training innovations bolstered by telecom platforms; and (3) the policies and open-ended modes of public-private collaboration that can enable equitable and sustainable roll-out. The opportunities, like delivery of real-time distant instruction and the collaboration with engineering universities of all parts of the world, as well as the ineluctable obstructions, namely the cost of infrastructure, unreliable power and low digital literacy among teachers, are accentuated. The paper also suggests practical suggestions that education ministries, telecommunication regulators and development organisations can do to coordinate infrastructure investments with STEM education goals, thereby speeding engineering readiness and economic competitiveness in low-resource environments.
References
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How to cite this paper
@article{1710259,
author = {Obert Batsirai Musemwa, Mukudzeishe Wendell Merit Mupa, Munashe Naphtali Mupa, Tsungai E Tsambatar},
title = {Digital Transformation in STEM Education: Leveraging Telecommunications Infrastructure to Enhance Engineering Readiness in Developing Economies},
journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
year = {2025},
volume = {9},
number = {2},
pages = {1014-1023},
issn = {2456-8880},
url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1710259.pdf},
abstract = {This conceptual review paper evaluates the potential that sophisticated telecommunications infrastructures, namely 5G networks, fibre-optic, and wireless broadband, can have on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning in developing economies to enhance access, innovation in pedagogy, and workforce readiness. Concentrating on Zimbabwe as a significant example and referring to similar programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa, the paper has allied existing policy publications, engineering-education frameworks, and technology-for-development (ICT4D) literature to outline three fundamental subjects: (1) how connectivity can enable a wider curriculum provision and virtual laboratories; (2) spheres of curriculum and teacher-training innovations bolstered by telecom platforms; and (3) the policies and open-ended modes of public-private collaboration that can enable equitable and sustainable roll-out. The opportunities, like delivery of real-time distant instruction and the collaboration with engineering universities of all parts of the world, as well as the ineluctable obstructions, namely the cost of infrastructure, unreliable power and low digital literacy among teachers, are accentuated. The paper also suggests practical suggestions that education ministries, telecommunication regulators and development organisations can do to coordinate infrastructure investments with STEM education goals, thereby speeding engineering readiness and economic competitiveness in low-resource environments.},
month = {August},
}