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For quite some time now, Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been considered as a necessity to education as they are seen to have the potential to transform education and student learning, especially in developing countries (Behar & Mishra, 2015). In Zambia, many efforts have been made to integrate ICT in the education sector. In 2006 a project called iSchool was established for the purpose of delivering the National curriculum online, this project aimed at changing the pedagogies used in schools and deliver exciting, hands-on learning to students of all ages, or ability across the country (Habler et al., 2011). This is a good program which encourages the use of ICTs to customise learning and teaching but does not emphasise on integrating ICT as a subject. However, the iSchool Project would help to successfully integrate ICT Subjects in Schools and further promote ICT literacy among Teachers and Learners.
By 2010, sixty percent of the country’s population was still leaving in rural areas (Central Statistical Office Lusaka Zambia, 2015), this may be an indication that most people in the country were not accessing ICT efficiently due to lack of electricity, therefore most of them remained ICT illiterate since most ICT equipment require the use of power. The integration of ICTs in learning and teaching practice was very limited in the beginning, but after the introduction of computer studies (SC) as a compulsory subject, the situation started changing (Shafika, 2007).
The Government of the Republic of Zambia has made significant reforms to improve the ICT sector in the country, this is partly demonstrated by the adoption of ICT as the priority sector in the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) (2006-2010), the introduction of teacher education in ICT at all teacher training institutions (TTIs) in the country, developing a national ICT curriculum, implementing special schemes and policies to facilitate easy acquisition of ICT equipment for both learners and teachers and promoting internet access at all levels of the education system (Ministry of Communications and Transport, 2006).
In view of the above stated adoptions and approval of the 2006 National ICT policy, the Zambian government through the Ministry of Education (MOE) introduced ICT subjects in the schools in 2014 and made the subject compulsory at junior secondary (Ministry of Education Science Vocational Training and Early Education, 2013b).