It must be extremely hard and difficult to teach Information and Communications Technology (ICT) without a computer. This is the plight of Ghanaian teacher Owura Kwadwo from Kumasi who teaches ICT without computers.
Striving hard to ensure that his students would grasp his computer lessons, he drew a Microsoft Word format on the chalkboard. Social media went abuzz with the picture showing the drawing on the board. Cameroonian entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchong tagged Microsoft on Twitter to assist, and Microsoft has said it will equip Kwadwo with a teaching device.
In the most challenging environs and circumstances, it is tenacity that matters the most. It is the hunger to impart valuable knowledge to your students that keeps you going even when there is an acute shortage of the requisite resources to teach that information. This is the scenario that Kwadwo found himself in. Realizing there are no computers, he did not allow that to stop him from teaching ICT to his students.
In a Facebook post Kwadwo wrote, “Teaching I.C.T in Ghana’s school is very funny. I.C.T on the board paa. I love ma (my) students so have to do what will make them understand what am [I’m] teaching".
Cameroonian entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchong set out to find the teacher and also sent a message to Microsoft Africa. Enonchong sought to find resources to build a computer lab. Her efforts might be yielding fruits already as Microsoft Africa responded: “Supporting teachers to enable digital transformation in education is at the core of what we do. We will equip Owura Kwadwo with a device from one of our partners, and access to our MCE program & free professional development resources on education.microsoft.com”.
Africa is a promising continent. However the shortage of the necessary resources required to help the children realize their dreams in this digital age is slowing the progress. The quality of teaching science subjects in environments where there are no adequate resources has come under scrutiny in Ghana.
Many have applauded Owura Kwadwo for going the extra-mile in the face of insurmountable obstacles. Hopefully, the assistance by Microsoft will begin to yield some positive and fruitful results for the betterment of Ghana, and the whole continent at large.