Key Theme: Education
Schoolnets generally have
made an enormous difference to the lives of youngsters growing up in Africa's
new information society. But technology centres are still few and far between,
while teachers who understand the technologies and know how to impart their
knowledge are rare indeed. In the following interview, a leading leading
schoolteacher argues that technology-savvy facilitators need far more support
and recognition.
An
interview with Yvonne Makhofole
Look after those networked
teachers!
Yvonne runs the
schoolnet in a school in North West Province, South Africa.
Q1: Tell us
about the high points in your project or research programme.
I am no longer
a teacher. I am a facilitator of knowledge. The learners I teach now know a
whole lot more than I or a curriculum can teach because I realise that I’ve been
able to teach them how to search on the web. They now do wonderful project work.
Q2. Tell
us about the low points in your project or research programme.
Well, the
money is seemingly going to dry up at the end of the year. But worse, I don’t
feel as though the education department values me. I have changed, grown, I can
manage a school laboratory with computers. I can fix those computers if they
break, I am there most afternoons, and every Saturday, but the teachers reward
system does not take account of that. I have not been given a promotion, or more
money. I must say, I am tempted to look for a job in the ICT sector, in the
private sector where they are looking for an energetic, hardworking, person with
ICT skills.
Q3.
Tell us about the people in these projects or research programmes.
Oh,
it is the learners that are so rewarding. Their growth, excitement and sustained
interest in working on computers is so rewarding. They come from a little rural
town, but they could make it anywhere!
Q4. If you
were to do this programme or research again, would you do it differently?
Explain.
I wish the
Education Department would know that there are Schoolnet Teachers like me out
there who just want to be recognised for what we have done, and rewarded.
I also wish we
had plans for sustaining the project beyond the Schoolnet SA grant period. We
need cheaper access to the internet, or else we won’t have any access,
especially when the project money dries us.
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