More than ever, Tunisia is banking on new technologies in order to cultivate its comparative advantage in this area. A memorandum of understanding between ministries is speeding up access to broadband for schools and training establishments.
All schools and high schools in Tunisia will soon be equipped with broadband. This is the objective of the memorandum of understanding signed between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Technology, Communication and Digital Transformation. It provides for the rehabilitation of the educational network, the generalization of the broadband connection, the deployment of internal networks. Without forgetting the provision of Internet access for each establishment
This agreement, signed by the Minister of Education, Mohammed Hamdi, and the Minister of Communication Technologies (ICT), Mohamed Fadhel Kraiem. It fits, explains a joint statement, “in the context of the will of the two ministries to establish an effective partnership which enshrines the national orientations at the heart of the priorities of the government”.
This partnership is also part of the “Digital Tunisia” plan which intends to accelerate the country’s digital strategy. It aims to achieve social integration and limit the digital divide, through popularization of access to high-speed digital services. Tunisia also intends to make digital technology one of its assets on the African and international scene.
For its part, the Ministry of Education has repeatedly expressed its need to digitize and develop its working methods through access to digital services. The state wishes to generalize access to information and knowledge, and to achieve the principle of equal opportunities between regions and establishments. For this, everyone must have access to high added value services including videoconferencing, training and quality courses.
Mohammed Hamdi considers that the agreement “responds to a pressing need to enshrine the principle of equal opportunities for all students, by equipping educational establishments with a high-speed internet connection”. According to the minister, engagement in the digital revolution is imperative.
For his part, Mohamed Fadhel Kraiem underlines the imperative to speed up the implementation of the project to connect schools and high schools by high-speed Internet. He recalls that the current situation, marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, shows the urgency of developing the infrastructure of educational institutions so that they are in tune with technological developments allowing access to training and training platforms. distance learning.
Mohamed Fadhel Kraiem has therefore just been proposed again for the post of Minister of ICT, which he had held since February 27, 2020. He thus joins the so-called “technocrats” cabinet, proposed by the new Prime Minister, Hichem Mechichi, the August 24.
A graduate of the École Polytechnique and the National School of Telecommunications in Paris, the future minister began his professional career in France, with the Capgemini group and then with Vivendi. He has held several senior positions, notably at SFR as Director of Programs and at Maroc Telecom as Director of Information Systems. In 2006, he joined the Moroccan operator INWI, as executive director in charge of Network and Information Systems.
He joined Tunisie Telecom in July 2010, as Deputy Director General, in charge of commercial and financial activities. A position he held until the end of 2015. He was appointed CEO of Tunisie Telecom in 2017.
State executives rely on artificial intelligence!
About 96% of Tunisian government officials believe that artificial intelligence (AI) projects will “reduce delays in public services”. This is the main lesson of a survey conducted by the Ministry of Industry and SMEs on “the perception of AI in the public sector”.
There are four priority sectors in Tunisia for integrating AI technology, namely e-government, health, transport and energy. In this context, 86% of executives surveyed consider that AI “can help reduce the costs of public services”.
Specifically, 86% of them believe that AI can help improve the decision support process and 80% of them believe that AI would help reduce corruption in public services. Additionally, 91% of executives surveyed believe AI can help automate repetitive tasks.
However, 42% of them say they are “worried about the risk of losing the privacy, security and integrity of personal data when using AI”. And 46% of the sample consider AI to “severely limit” human interaction and human common sense.
