The Challenge of Technology-driven Education in Africa: 'The Ministry is our Problem'

‘The Ministry is our problem’

By the time Papa Mmesoma finished talking, over 80% of the participants were already applauding. I looked around and gazed at my school director- she was not really in that ecstatic mood.

Guess what? Those who applauded were mainly classroom teachers, who shared same plight and opinion with Papa Mmesoma.

Does it mean the school owners around did not buy into that opinion? Not really…

One of them came up to support the idea and even went as far as informing the house how she was doing it in her school… but she added what eventually became a popular clause, ‘the ministry is our problem’.

My madam came alive and concurred, others joined the chorus: The Ministry is our problem!

Which Ministry?, you may ask. The answer, ‘The Nigeria Ministry of education- so conventional that they are resistant to any novel idea…

This is the replica of what you are likely to hear from every other teacher from any African country.

What is the issue here?

That was at a training program I attended last year- a Teachers Network Conference at Lagos, Nigeria, with the theme: Technology-driven Classroom.

In attendance were teachers from different schools, education consultants, private school owners as well as reps from companies who sponsored the program.

In fact I came all the way from Port Harcourt with my colleagues alongside our Proprietress (23 of us).  What a risk and cost? You would say!

But then, at the end, the program was worth such huge risk and cost.

It was during the panel discussion before the breakout session that the anchor person, Rhoda Odigboh with her team of great minds, took time to challenge everybody in the house on why Nigerian teachers must embrace technology fully both in our administrative and classroom activities.

Applause! Applause!! Applause!!!

Everyone in the house was now charged and all that.

But there is a problem!

Embracing a technology-driven classroom in African is as daring as going to cut a lion’s tail just to prepare a meal for lunch. You’re sure to meet a brick wall from the Ministry.

How?

For sure, embracing a technology-driven classroom will eliminate most of our paper works- but the Ministry cannot tolerate this.

Embracing a technology-driven classroom means that most of our school children’s work and activities will be in soft copies and media forms- but the conventional Ministry wants to see the hard copy.

This was the concern of Mr Juventus Ifediata (aka Papa Mmesoma).

Should teachers keep writing lesson notes every term, while still embracing technology in the classroom with its rigorous manipulations?

Why not have notes written for once and saved as soft copies, only to be reviewed when necessary?

These and many other probing questions stirred the house.

Teachers were applauding like a prisoner who was told his prison term is completed.

You think that school administrators are averse to this?

Not really! They’re only afraid of the rod of the Ministry. By the time one of them (school owners) spoke and pointed at the constraints, the chorus had changed:

It’s now, “the Ministry is our problem”!

And that’s Africa for you.

•     Even the governments (Ministry of education) in many African countries are still operating manually.
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•     School children are still copying notes from the black board(Imagine how the slow writers drag the class behind each day)
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•     Our Education ministry still insists that teachers must produce a fresh hard copy of lesson note each session(written on a weekly basis)
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•     Recommended textbooks are outdated and out of sync with current global educational realities, yet the Ministry insists schools must abide by these recommendations
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•     Our educational curriculum design is so disjointed and confusing that it is at best irrelevant.

You can see that change is knocking on our door, and the African teachers are ready to embrace that needed change.

Unfortunately, the Ministry is our problem!

Africa is blessed with huge human and natural resources, but regrettably cursed with bad and visionless leadership.

We need a holistic change of mindset in the way we do things.

I have to say that the greatest problem Africa has in developing (primarily in Education) is rooted in the lack innovativeness among the men and women in charge.

It’s like we take interest to frustrate teachers and learners. While technology is making learning easier and more thrilling, Africa has resisted it.

Someone has rightly opined, that ‘they seem to gain, when we are in pain’- referring to African leaders.

So be sure only teachers can change the system for good. We shall not act as rebellious children, but we must fight and fight and fight.

Things must be done right here in Africa.

Today, ‘The Ministry is our problem’; tomorrow, let it be said, ‘African teachers have brought solution’

But this can only happen when teachers embrace the change itself, and go all the way to acquire the needed change that would make it happen.

Technology-driven education is the key to our collective goodness as a continent. Let’s embrace it.

Join the TeacherTeachTech Campaign and acquire the needed skills to bring about that change we all desire.

Culled from the original article from our sister blog, The African teacher.