Of late we have been hearing about the shocking unemployment rates from Arzbeijan to Greece, from Australia to USA. A lot of skilled and professionally competent people are idle somewhere in Americas, Eastern and Western Europe and Asia. It seems because of habit most citizens are waiting for their politicians to solve their problems. Is it realistic today in the world of globalization and a situation where you can have more intelligence spread elsewhere and not among the top political elites?
Dear comrades in Asia, Europe and USA you may not know this fact: That while you remain idle and jobless and pyschologically suffering unexplainable diseases there is work in Africa and other developing countries.
Africa's infrastructure is obselete; it needs new roads and railways and bridges; it needs new and modern harbours; it needs new and modern airports; it needs tractors and harvesters and even simple things like bicycles, motorcycles and animal carts.
Africa's agriculture is as old and unmodernized as the continent. Industries lacking and trade rudiment and very basic indeed. This is a virgin territory. Far more, many opportunities, challenges and rewards than elsewhere in the world if one can take the trouble of being pioneers and do the needful!'
Almost three-quarters of Africa is yet to receive and use electricity; some parts of the continent don't know what is tap water; others have never lived in a house but what they call huts; the education infrastructure is dilapidated; there is dearth of doctors and teachers; some parts hear radio transmission from 'rich' neighbours; television if any belongs to the state and instead of opening their brains it close them; computers and internets are like technologies from completely another world.... and many, many other issues.
Where is Richard Branson and the men and women of the diaspora. Branson started a business out of almost the same situation. Virgin Airlines was born out of desperation perspirated into a business vision.
In Branson's case you had stranded travellers and no plane in one city, but many planes lying useless somewhere. In our case, it is skilled and competent professionals lying idle in US, Europe and Asia and a continent that mankind is denying an easy exit out of its backwardness misfortune Africa.
But let's not talk of waiting and depending on bankrupt state or national governments. Let us initiate links between such jobless professionals and African professionals who pretend to be doing something but actually are not delivering anything, because politicians have usurped theri posts and positions. Let there be a meeting of such people. A meeting of minds and ideas to consider what such men and women can do to lessen the pains of being jobless and broke as competent professionals, one one hand, and on the other the pains of being made redundant in the African quest for the development of their poor and suffering masses who are being deceived daily that one day the leader and the government shall come to their rescue. In the long-run all of us should indeed be dead. If we really want to help Africans develop themselves it should be today and not tomorrow. The financial and economic crisis is one golden opportunity for the whiteman to make up for the humiliation, degradation, exploitation and suffering that he has caused the blackman.
For instance, Tanzanians need a new and modernized railway network. There is an opportunity to build perhaps a doubleline railway line from Dar es salaam to Tanga, Tanzania and then from there to Mombasa.
There is an opportunity to build another double line railway lines fromTanga to Kampala, Uganda as well as two other double lines from Dar es salaam to Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa as well as from Dar es salaam to Kigali and Bujumbura.
The Dar es salaam-Tanga line can be used as a demonstration plot by a joint venture of jobless Amriacans/Europeans/Asians in collaboration with Tanzanian engineers and railway builders. This will be the indisputable University for solving the railway problem in Tanzania. Those who graduate from here can take the challenge to build another line anywhere in Tanzania or Africa.
What is needed is for our African governments, Central Banks and politicians to realize the importance of such an udnertaking and give every incho of support they can muster for such a dream of development through world citizenry partnership to be realized.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
ICT and the Classroom of the Future
THE pace of change in information, communication and education technology is an early warning signal that indicates the classroom of the future may be of a totally different nature than what we are used to presently.
Instead of having the teacher as the sole proprietor and dispenser of knowledge the teacher may be part of a learning TEAM that collectively pursue new knowledge and skills that eventually socialize the learning proces breaking the wall between the teachers and the learners that sometimes is said to inhibit or slow down the learning process.
In Tanzania and I believe Africa in general we are used to a classroom that has one teacher and 50 to 150 pupils. It is not an environment conducive at all for teaching, studying and learning. It appears that in this kind of situation, the teacher if he or she is not altogether cheating is pretending to teach, while his or her pupils pretend to learn. As a result, we are used to mass failures year in, year out.
The plight of many schools in Africa may be ended by the introduction and application of innovative teaching that rely on the use of Information, Communication and Educational technology.
ICT has all the potentials of not only offering serious teaching and learning but also easing the heavy load that our teachers carry.
In the first instance, the combination of networking, multimedia tools Information and eduction technology may allow for one expert teacher to teach several classes at a go.
That is to say each subject be in primary or secondary school may requir only one teacher thus freeing the rest in the area networked to provide more assitance and support to learners, that is, the pupils or students in each school.
The best teacher in mathematics may be teaching all classes in a ward or division if not a district. Hence, standardization of skills will lead to more than average rate of knowledge acquisition. Overtime this will lead to better presentation and delivery skills by teachers.
Those students who normally drop a subject because they cannot easily follow him or her shall be rescued by the flicking of the overhead multimedia projector.
It is said that the African is an animal of colors and pictures. Video presentation of various subjects will more than interest the learner thus facilitating the whole learning process.
By its very nature ICT will attract more concentration from both teachers and students and thus enhance comprehension and erudition. This will in turn boost confidence among students and thus making them perform better across the board.
Since most teachers will be freed from direct teaching, most of them can turn into tutors or facilitators in the classrom thus fostering pupil-teacher interaction which is critical in learning and udnerstanding the subject matter.
The classroom of the future may not have a teacher but a learning or studying manager. That is to say, teachers need not worry in the interim about losing their jobs. They will still be needed but in a new capacity as managers and directors of learning.
The teacher job shall from thereon, be that of planning, making decision, organize, lead and controll the learning programme in class for each and every child.
The new technology shall make it easy to customize all learning as well as making the learner in charge of his or her own learning. Furthermore, pupils can revisit their lessons as many times as they want. Thus making them enhance their learning and understanding all the time.
In addition, the new classroom shall definitely allow more room for discussions, debates and bona fide arguments and critical thinking that are key factors in facilitating understanding and learning.
In a world of of internet and globalization the modern classroom shall cease to be an isolated island in the sea of learning and knowledge. Intra-school and inter-school learning, sharing and exchange of lessons, exercises, tests, quizes and examinations shall be as easy as drinking a cup of cold tea.
All this points to one thing, the future teacher must be a multi-skilled person, especially, in his subject area as well as in communication and in managing various computer and internet applications. The future is bright for our kids. What is needed is to take the first step as soon as possible.
E-mail: Sammy.makilla@columnist.com
Instead of having the teacher as the sole proprietor and dispenser of knowledge the teacher may be part of a learning TEAM that collectively pursue new knowledge and skills that eventually socialize the learning proces breaking the wall between the teachers and the learners that sometimes is said to inhibit or slow down the learning process.
In Tanzania and I believe Africa in general we are used to a classroom that has one teacher and 50 to 150 pupils. It is not an environment conducive at all for teaching, studying and learning. It appears that in this kind of situation, the teacher if he or she is not altogether cheating is pretending to teach, while his or her pupils pretend to learn. As a result, we are used to mass failures year in, year out.
The plight of many schools in Africa may be ended by the introduction and application of innovative teaching that rely on the use of Information, Communication and Educational technology.
ICT has all the potentials of not only offering serious teaching and learning but also easing the heavy load that our teachers carry.
In the first instance, the combination of networking, multimedia tools Information and eduction technology may allow for one expert teacher to teach several classes at a go.
That is to say each subject be in primary or secondary school may requir only one teacher thus freeing the rest in the area networked to provide more assitance and support to learners, that is, the pupils or students in each school.
The best teacher in mathematics may be teaching all classes in a ward or division if not a district. Hence, standardization of skills will lead to more than average rate of knowledge acquisition. Overtime this will lead to better presentation and delivery skills by teachers.
Those students who normally drop a subject because they cannot easily follow him or her shall be rescued by the flicking of the overhead multimedia projector.
It is said that the African is an animal of colors and pictures. Video presentation of various subjects will more than interest the learner thus facilitating the whole learning process.
By its very nature ICT will attract more concentration from both teachers and students and thus enhance comprehension and erudition. This will in turn boost confidence among students and thus making them perform better across the board.
Since most teachers will be freed from direct teaching, most of them can turn into tutors or facilitators in the classrom thus fostering pupil-teacher interaction which is critical in learning and udnerstanding the subject matter.
The classroom of the future may not have a teacher but a learning or studying manager. That is to say, teachers need not worry in the interim about losing their jobs. They will still be needed but in a new capacity as managers and directors of learning.
The teacher job shall from thereon, be that of planning, making decision, organize, lead and controll the learning programme in class for each and every child.
The new technology shall make it easy to customize all learning as well as making the learner in charge of his or her own learning. Furthermore, pupils can revisit their lessons as many times as they want. Thus making them enhance their learning and understanding all the time.
In addition, the new classroom shall definitely allow more room for discussions, debates and bona fide arguments and critical thinking that are key factors in facilitating understanding and learning.
In a world of of internet and globalization the modern classroom shall cease to be an isolated island in the sea of learning and knowledge. Intra-school and inter-school learning, sharing and exchange of lessons, exercises, tests, quizes and examinations shall be as easy as drinking a cup of cold tea.
All this points to one thing, the future teacher must be a multi-skilled person, especially, in his subject area as well as in communication and in managing various computer and internet applications. The future is bright for our kids. What is needed is to take the first step as soon as possible.
E-mail: Sammy.makilla@columnist.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)