Essential to managing ICTs in your school is the realistic management of the cost. We work in a context where there are many needs and priorities. You are likely to encounter parents, educators and community members who say:

"Are ICTs really a priority, when our children do not have sufficient school books?"

The better you manage the cost of ICTs, the more able you are to show the cost benefits. It is desirable to be able to show stakeholders that ICTs are worth the investment.

How can we budget effectively for ICTs in our school?
Too often we view technology as a single budget item and forget that there are different kinds of costs that we need to budget for when planning and implementing ICTs.

First, we need to budget for the maintenance of the technology that already exists at the school. This includes budgeting for the replacement and repair of equipment, service agreements, and the training of staff members. It does schools more harm than good to implement new technologies, at the expense of letting present programs and equipment go unused, because the staff is not trained or the equipment is not repaired.

Second, we need to budget to have funds available to implement new technologies and programs. This includes the buying of equipment, getting technical support, and conducting training, so that staff members are able to utilize new technologies and programs.

In order to make steady progress at our school, when introducing and utilizing ICTs for the benefit of learners and educators at the school, we can not assume, unrealistically, that one day funding will become available. We need to ensure that we acquire funds purposefully and transparently. Even with acquired funds, we should not expect to be able to actualize all of our plans for ICT use at the school, all at once. The introduction and integration of ICTs into our schools is a process. Our ICT budget will reflect and allow for this.