African Governments have been asked to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) education into the curriculum of kindergarten and primary education to enable the children enhance their capabilities at early stages.

Dr. Charlotte B. Broaden, an African - American made the call at the just ended 3rd International Conference on ICT and Economic Development in Africa, held in Accra.

Dr. Broaden said education was the most fundamental cornerstone to a vibrant economy, adding that businesses considered many factors when locating, starting or expanding, stressing, "the quality of workforce, particularly for ICT - related businesses are paramount."

However, in a sharp response to her call, reporters questioned how this could be achieved since most of the tertiary institutions on the continent had no access to computers, notwithstanding the inadequate power supply.

Dr. Broaden, who is Assistant Professor of Management Department of Business at the Xavier University of Louisiana in USA, observed that education was the greatest force for change as well as investment that African nations could enhance for economic and social development.

To this end, Dr. Broaden urged African governments to aggressively pursue the ICT policy and bring to fruition the commitment to universal and free education, by using both conventional and innovative ICT solutions to make the dream a reality.

"Governments must work to re-engineer our educational systems to provide curriculum that meets international standards for quality education at lower rate, using ICT so that our graduates can compete globally in the ever- growing international job market", she continued.

In addition to this, Dr. Broaden said it was imperative for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to join hands in the ICT crusade by allocating parts of their budget for capacity building, since economic opportunity and human condition could not be separated from each other in the context of struggle by Africa to improve her economic growth.

Growth, opportunity and improvement of the human condition, according to Dr. Broaden, should stretch across all levels of the socio-economic strata of African societies.

The Assistant Prof. implored NGOs to position ICT more seriously to enhance knowledge sharing among employees and clients, as one of the measures to reduce operational cost associated with travel and couriers.

It also called for close collaboration between the NGOs and the donor community as well as private businesses to develop ICT solutions to challenging issues with regard to cost and sustainability of software solutions and the problems associated with the handling of a large number of micro loans.

For his part, Chris Uwaje, the managing director of Zinox Technologies Limited based in Nigeria, alluded to the fact that only a few people had access to computers in Africa.

But he argued that, this should not be used as an excuse to discourage governments from taking a cue from the call made by the ICT experts. Uwaje said, " we should start from somewhere and move forward rather than be static."

Mr. Kojo Yankah of Yankah and Associates Communications, who chaired the function, described it as success. He therefore asked journalists to be partners in propagating this idea.

About sixteen countries, including participants from the USA, Canada, Australia, Kenya, Mali, and Swaziland attended the meeting.