We need to give our educational tools time to evolve

trueBy Charles Okecha

In 2006, I was privileged to have a neighbour who lectured at Islamic University, Mbale Campus. She obtained scholarship for further studies in UK and came back three years later.

She brought along several play items for her children which ours also got the opportunity to use. In them we saw the secrets of the developed world. Letters of the Alphabet, numbers, names of objects and their parts used in science study were engraved on toys! Some had visual displays like TVs and emitted all kinds of synthesised voices.

When children grow up exposed to such items from early childhood and use them as study tools, they can never abuse them. They understand that such tools are used to pass knowledge and at the same time they must develop personal talents like handwriting, drawing, counting and mathematical skills.
 
In Uganda and  other parts of the developing  world,  the majority of the population is just getting access to computers, netbooks, smart phones or ipads. While in some countries, gadgets like phones can no longer be stolen if accidentally abandoned or dropped, those who own them here face different risks.
 
In addition to the common risks like the cost of purchase and maintenance, others are:
1.         A student can easily malice and sabotage  others by throwing their gadgets in pit latrines, which is not common to study tools like books.
2.         Health risks to the user and afterward the environment through disposal of e-waste.
3.         Students fail to pay attention to the teacher and presuming that everything is available on-line.
4.         Publishers of on-line content tend to ignore basic study components and concentrate on new findings.
5.         Related costs such as electricity, and installation of battery charging points.
6.         Enhancing learners’ security within and against thugs from outside who could invade a school overnight and mint billions by robbing these gadgets. This may involve employing registered firms to  guard and installation of CCTV cameras which developed nations already have.
 
I have often used bus transport and observed the conduct of non Ugandan passengers, especially those from Europe and USA. Each time they travel they have books in their hands. They can barely spend long hours of travel looking around, conversing or snoozing.

They were simply brought up in a culture that values and thrives because of knowledge.  They need to seek more knowledge for survival since they don’t have climate and other natural endowments like land, water and raw materials like us.

Their knowledge keeps us on our knees begging for their help, technology and trading partnership.
 
In Uganda, on the other hand, our education is job-seeker oriented. The moment one acquires a job he never bothers to pursue more knowledge unless the job is at risk.  The time  I have worked  in an internet café or typeset  documents has given me  encounter with Afandes who have forgotten all spellings at school, yet they often  read newspapers.

A good number of parents can hardly assist their children to do home work, let alone those that are striving to balance between duty and  home because of  the magnetic force of social networks.

Yet it is some of these very parents pressing for such technology in schools at the peril of their own children.
 
As a kid, I studied in a remote village school, but afterward dismayed those who had access to best teachers and facilities. I learnt to value knowledge passed on to me through whatever source and I perceive many similar rural kids are out there. I am against any attempt to  intimidate  and deny them the opportunity to explore their talents and compete.

As much as we need to use technology to improve education, we should be mindful of the cost and other determinants rather than struggling to keep pace with the rest of the world. We are at risk of abandoning agriculture, the heart beat of our economy.

People have lived for centuries without such tools but not food. Besides that, the tools themselves keep changing in scope and fashion, and we could waste all our entire life time and resources purchasing and comparing one after the other.
For God and my country.
 
The writer works with St. Paul’s College, Mbale