That eternal struggle between nature and technology always seems to be ongoing; when do we go too far? Sometimes though, you get a clearcut case like this, where the technology just plain benefits everyone: Tanzania and Zambia, two African countries, have started ICT projects which utilize mobile telephone messaging and computer-generated classrooms for primary and secondary schools. About 200 primary schools will benefit from the former's programme, which will launch early October. This will serve as a 'pilot project' before being copied in other schools that need it.

Training minister Professor Jumanne Mughembe told APA this is all mainly due to acute teacher shortages in the region; currently they're short of over 40,000.

"This IT project will also be using projectors, which would be operated from one control center manned by a few instructors in a bid to reach many students," he stressed.

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has of course helped usher in these teaching methods in Africa, with many different countries ordering them in, following on the project's goals of putting one in the hands of each student. Going with these African government programmes (headed by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development's e-Africa Commission), learning materials will be posted regularly to a website, which students will then access through their OLPC computers.

The e-Africa Commission is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is set to equip roughly 16,000 African schools with computers and Internet access by 2015; hopefully they won't see the kind of censorship China has.