www.ijstr.org There Is More To Bridging Digital Divide Than Physical Access To Icts: Advocacy For Botswana

Abstract: Information Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the driving forces of globalization and provides developing countries with opportunities for development. Great efforts have been given by each government of a developing nation to provide physical access to ICTs in a bid to bridge the gap between the digitally excluded and the digitally included, however this paper argues that digital divide will continue to widen as long as governments of developing countries do not look beyond physical access to ICTs. This study argues that any discussion of the phenomenon of the digital divide must look beyond equitable physical access and take into consideration issues to do with content and capacity, capacity-building, infrastructural development and appropriation of ICT. The research has been done by disseminating questionnaires to Computing and Information systems students at Botswana Accountancy College(BAC) on access to ICTs in their previous schools. The results suggested a huge variation regarding how various schools utilize their ICT infrastructure. The private schools seem to be better in availing opportunities for ICT reach by all students, while certain levels are more preferred than others in public schools. Thus there exist some yawning gaps between the digitally included and the digitally excluded