How Tech Will Be Essential for Education in Africa

If I was in primary school today, I would have probably googled all my homework assignments. That’s a thought that many of us in our early 30s in Zimbabwe as part of a generation of school leavers that missed the internet during school days and we assume that kids nowadays have it easier. It’s the story of every generation, we always say we had it tougher and many of us have heard our parents say they woke up early to go and till the fields then had to walk 5 kilometres to school uphill, both ways! Yet it is true that this generation of kids born mid 1990s onwards does have it easier, information is now so abundant and at a person’s fingertips. But, despite this fact, the African education sector has not fully embraced this, especially in our primary and secondary education. How do we harness the power of the abundance of information within our grasp and let it benefit our children? The average teen in Harare, Zimbabwe or anywhere for that matter, will spend most of their time on Facebook, Whatsapp and other social media than doing productive research or reading good content. It will be a tragedy if this fact is not factored into education strategy by policy makers so that the internet’s true potential is realised within our education sector.

It is difficult to change old modes of thinking and the trouble with our generation is that most of us have not woken up to the fact that the world has changed, things were not so good back in the old days and our mind-sets have to shift to a new paradigm of learning and assimilating information. Why is it important that the teachers and parents of this new generation begin to realise the shift in information and its access? It is because we have to embrace new modes of how to teach kids to learn. It is now a combination of how to get good information and how to sift the grain from the chaff; what is true and what is nonsense. We have whole libraries at our fingertips and if both we and the kids don’t know where and how to get the information, they will just use Facebook neglecting the other billion sites that is part of the internet. They will not be aware of the vast array of apps, software, e-books and countless other innovations. This is tragedy is comparable to dying of thirst while your feet are in water.

Education of the African child is of paramount importance and it is only when fellow Africans can advocate solutions that are relevant, that we will see the potential realised and how great and vast it is. Companies like Econet Wireless in Zimbabwe, Vodacom in South Africa, and MTN all over Africa have rolled out mobile internet technology that has great outreach and if we manage to develop technologies that affect the new users of the internet in a way that enables them to assimilate good internet usage patterns then we can make great changes in societies. Initiatives by Microsoft, Intel and the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation need to be examined introspectively for them to be more effective in the continent. This is not only in terms of education but in poverty reduction, industry, trade, economics, payment systems, healthcare and agriculture. In the end we won’t just Facebook; we will be smart internet users.

Biggie Tafadzwa Ganyo is an engineer and a technology enthusiast, he writes on technology trends and strategy.