Ensuring e-learning connectivity equipment is exempt from licensing, customs taxes and fees, and piloting satellite teacher projects are key to boosting education and jobs growth in Africa.

This is a conclusion from a roundtable discussion during the first day of the fifth EU-Africa Business Forum that took place in Brussels earlier this week.

According to a press statement from global satellite operator SES, high level politicians and leaders from Africa and Europe attended the roundtable titled ‘Creating partnerships to bring e-schools to rural Africa: Offering incubator-backed seed and early stage funding’.

The call comes as African nations such as Kenya and South Africa have moved to implement value added tax (VAT) on electronic devices, driving down demand for devices from the likes of Nokia.

But SES vice president for institutional relations Christine Leurquin, who chaired the panel discussion, also called on Africa to start rolling out satellite powered e-school pilot projects to boost teacher competency in Africa.

“Access to low-cost satellite based services to schools will be inhibited, and in some cases prevented, unless national and regional groups of administrations apply policies and regulations that more effectively facilitate their use,” said Leurquin.

“There are new opportunities for ubiquitous deployment of low-cost satellite services to small businesses and consumers. However, disproportionate licensing fees combined with customs fees are unnecessarily thwarting access to communications,” Leurquin added.

SES in its press statement says it has also partnered with the Teachers Media International (TMI) to launch an e-learning pilot project in Liberia through an incubator program for education.

Meanwhile, the panel further urged African and European heads of states to establish a fast-track Pan-African financial instrument to meet ICT initiatives for e-schools before 2020.

In particular, the panel called for broadband infrastructure deployment for the likes of e-schools to be prioritised.