The Global E-Schools and Communities Initiative (GESCI) and the Ministry of National Education of Côte d’Ivoire have agreed to launch and implement a program aimed at both transforming secondary schools into digital schools of excellence through integrating ICT in schools and improving the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and the professionalization of teachers generally. The African Digital Schools Initiative (ADSI) program is designed to use ICTs to improve the quality of STEM teaching and learning, to respond to the short supply of teachers in this field and to address the gap for robust models of ICT integration in secondary education nationally, regionally and internationally. This ground-breaking programme will run in Kenya, Tanzania and Côte d’Ivoire over the next 5 years and is funded by The MasterCard Foundation. ADSI will reach 20 schools, 200 STEM teachers and 400 teachers in other subjects, 30,000 students and 20 school boards and parent associations in Côte d’Ivoire. The preparatory work for implementation will start in 2017, in close collaboration and consultation with the Ministry of National Education of Côte D’Ivoire. The program will scale up and adapt to Côte d’Ivoire its innovative model for ICT integration in the teaching and learning of STEM developed by GESCI, which has been tested and validated in its project pilot SIPSE (Strengthening Innovative Practice in Secondary Education) deployed in 20 secondary schools in Kenya and in Tanzania between 2013 and 2015. Its overall goal is to contribute to the scaling up of ICT use in teacher development and ICT enabling conditions in secondary schools that will lead to improved student 21^st century learner skills development and learning outcomes, and readiness for the workplace and the knowledge economy. More on ADSI Press Release: English French