Management By Systems Approach to Bridging the Digital Divide By Dr. Appu Kuttan, Chairman of CyberLearning I’d like to thank Certiport for this honor, especially David Saedi and the entire PATHWAYS team.

Let me congratulate all the champions for their exemplary services. I am honored to accept this award on behalf of all the champions and the millions everywhere who are bridging the Digital Divide.

Let me ask you a simple question. How many of you would like to improve your productivity, enhance your digital literacy programs, make a difference in the lives of many and find happiness doing so?

I will give you a recipe to achieve those by showing you how to use the Management By Systems or MBS approach. It’s actually a concept I developed in the 60’s and one that has been applied in many countries. MBS is a practical systems approach that uses resources effectively to meet desired outcomes and it can be applied to nearly any situation.

So how does Management By Systems create a positive change in nations?

First, each nation has strengths: And it’s vital to find those strengths. Second, for MBS to work, it takes visionary leaders who rise up in this Information Age!

Just as an example: During the '80s I advised Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India, on a strategy to make India an IT power by taking advantage of India’s three strengths:

• English
• A large number of math and science graduates and
• Indians’ love of computers.

Mr. Gandhi opened up India, invited tech companies, and helped to start India’s IT revolution. Now, because of his efforts and those like him one in three IT professionals in the World is from India.

Yet India still has a significant Digital Divide, especially in rural and poor urban areas. Earlier this year, I met with the President of India. He has agreed to launch a national program designed to train a million teachers in IT—especially through IC³ and MOS.

I cannot understate the importance of leadership for the success of a Management by Systems approach. It is because of leaders like this that India is able to make a change. And India is not alone.

Even the U.S. has challenges, many challenges, especially because of severe cuts in education technology budgets by the Bush Administration. To bridge the Digital Divide here in America, we have launched a national program setting up CyberLearning Academies in disadvantaged schools, beginning with pilot programs in Florida, Texas, New York, and Virginia. Our goal is to reach most inner city and poor rural schools by 2020.

Another key to the Management By Systems approach is an understanding of the importance of digital literacy.

So why is it so essential?

We all know that technology drives the 21st Century’s global economy. And 85 percent of today’s jobs require digital and technological skills. And the keystone of it all? Digital literacy.

So where do you start?

To advance digital literacy, you first need to set and understand your goals and objectives—all centered around very specific and measurable outcomes.

Next, it’s essential to map the use of limited resources, which has been discussed in great detail during this evening by David Saedi and others.

And finally, it takes a long term, holistic approach that addresses the problem and not just the symptoms of digital isolation. And that’s exactly the MBS plan does.

To apply MBS, we need to define our goals and objectives clearly and then create a system to deliver the desired outcomes. It’s important to get input from key decision makers, especially government and civil leaders, take stock of the technological environment and available resources, and align these for the best outcome possible.

Let me illustrate how we applied MBS and created a digital literacy and ICT system for Mauritius in just three weeks last March. They call it MMM—“Miracle in Mauritius in March!”

When the Prime Minster invited me to help transform Mauritius into an ICT-focused nation, I accepted the invitation on two conditions:

1. You don’t pay me, so I can help create a system that is good for the nation;
2. You have to make a commitment to implement the program.

I went there, first gave a seminar on MBS to the entire Cabinet, then created a team of key decision makers and trained them in MBS.

The team first established, using the two strengths of Mauritius—location and bilingualism—the twin missions of making Mauritius an ICT bridge between IT power India and Africa and also between India and French-speaking countries.

To achieve this, the team set the objective as producing a large pool of ICT professionals who will attract potential employers. The team decided on the goal of training and certifying 400,000 Mauritians, a third of the population, in IC³ in four years. Those eligible for training include students, teachers, employees and non-employees. Training will take place at IT centers after school hours and on weekends.

Now, the question is: How do we transform the eligible students into IC³ graduates?

We need a system of resources to accomplish this. MBS defines these key resources as TTCMM, meaning Teacher-Technology-Courseware-Mentor-Motivation.

• Teacher: The University of Mauritius has agreed to train the trainers at no cost to the government.
• Technology: I helped the IT Ministry to get funds from the Government of India to upgrade hardware, software and access.
• Courseware: We agreed to provide substantial grants for courseware and certification. We are helping to provide all students with IC³ courses, workbooks and practice exams.
• Mentor: The Prime Minister will ask all IT professionals to become mentors.
• Motivation: The government and private sector plan to give salary increases to those getting IC³ certification.

We will provide rewards such as college scholarships for outstanding students. And the most exciting part—the program costs less than $70 per student! Each student is expected to help pay the cost, which is an essential strategy for this government’s deficit budget.

The Prime Minister is delighted with the plan. He had expected that it would cost millions of dollars. The Cabinet approved the plan and the Prime Minister and I went on national TV to explain the program. Training started on July 15 and the plan will be officially launched nationally on September 4.

The two key Cabinet decisions that make the Mauritius project very effective are:

• Designating IC³ as the official certification after careful evaluation.
• Making IC³ mandatory for high school students. In fact, this may be the first time a nation has done so.

This means a significant number of IC³ certification exams, followed by MOS and other ICT certification exams.

Since the word about the Mauritius plan spread, Iraq, Chile and Afghanistan have expressed interest in replicating the Mauritius model. I hope all of you can go back and inspire your country leaders to apply this practical MBS approach to spread digital literacy effectively at any level, from schools to entire nations!!

If you need to use this PPT presentation, go right ahead. You can find it at www.cyberlearning.org/pathways.

Now, let me give the recipe I promised!

Apply MBS by:

1. Writing down your objectives and goals on a daily or longer term basis
2. Planning to use your resources-human, financial, time etc- effectively to meet them

You can improve your productivity by at least 20%, make your digital literacy programs much more effective, make a difference in the lives of many and find happiness doing so!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, all of us who have “made it” in life have a moral obligation to help the millions who yearn for a better life. We all have a unique historical opportunity to “make a difference in the lives of millions” by providing them an opportunity for digital literacy education. As Mahatma Gandhi, who inspired me as a youngster, said…“True Happiness comes to those who help the needy.”

And so, I extend my hand of fellowship to all of you and the nations from which you come!

Let us roll up our sleeves and go to work. It is exciting and very rewarding indeed!

I wish you all god speed!

Thank you very much!

Adapted from Aug. 5, 2006 PATHWAYS Awards Gala.