“We will be there soon. Sawa'? Sawa?” A study on increased ICT use among secondary school students in Mutomo

Abstract: Africa stands on the doorstep of a global information revolution that presents a range of opportu-nities. ICT has enormous potential to contribute to the development of Africa, both on an indi-vidual and societal level. The purpose of this study is to examine what effect increased ICT use has on secondary school students in Mutomo, Kenya. Furthermore the study presents a mapping of the secondary school students ICT use and identifies opportunities and challenges with an increased use of ICT. The focus of the study is to relate ICT use in a rural area to social sustaina-bility. In order to study this, a field study, with an ethnographic approach, among secondary school students in Mutomo, Kenya was conducted. Through a qualitative research approach in-terviews and participant observations were conducted. The empirical material collected during the field study indicates the main opportunity with increased ICT use to be the possibility of finding and spreading information, which enhances creation of shared institutions. The main challenge of ICT is identified as overcoming the digital divide between students. The analysis further shows that an increased use of ICT is beneficial in most aspects of social sustainability. The equity indicator and equality factor of social sustainability are not positively affected from increased ICT use among secondary school students in Mutomo.