A few weeks ago, a photo posted by Richard Appiah Akoto (registered as Owura Kwadwo Hottish) an Informaion and communications technology teacher in Betenase M/A Junior High School in Ghana went viral on Facebook and twitter. In it, Akoto drawing a diagram of Microsoft Word on a chalkboard and we can see the students copying the drawing into their books. The photo was met with positive remarks; people praised him for finding means of teaching regardless of the school’s 7 years lack of computers.
However, others wondered how these students would be able to master these teachings without practice. Akoto’s picture was of a class room of 14 and 15 year-olds preparing for an exam that helps them progress into the next school year. He used the same method last year, but only one in his class of about 100 students got an A on the exam.
In the interview with Quartz, he acknowledged the limitations of his teaching method saying: “Definitely those in Accra will pass the exam because you cannot compare someone in front of a computer, who knows what he is doing with a mouse, to someone who has not had a feel of a mouse before”
Although he has a personal laptop, he told Quartz it would have been redundant to use his laptop to teach the students. The syllabus, which has not been updated since it was introduced, requires that the students know how to operate a system and a monitor. And passing the exam requires mastering what is in the syllabus.
Seeing the viral photos, Rebecca Enonchong, the founder of Appstech, reached out to Microsoft by mentioning them on the tweet. “Surly you can get him some proper resources” she said. And Microsoft Africa responded, promising to provide some resources.
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 https://t.co/dJ6loRUOdg
— Microsoft Africa (@MicrosoftAfrica) February 27, 2018
Shoutout to you Rebecca. And shoutout to Microsoft for coming through.