Learning without pen and paper

Transforming Malawi into a predominant digital society in line with the Malawi 2063 agenda begins with how schools adopt ICT services, writes our contributor EPHRAIM NYONDO.

Wezzie Mwamlima, 10, started using a tablet at six. She could surf the Internet, using Google and YouTube.

But her digital footprint begins at Sparrow Christian Academy, where she is in Standard 6.

“The future is digital. Our role as schools is to prepare these children for that future,” says the school’s principal Jacob Mtambalika, 45.

He founded the school seven years ago with 70 learners and, today, he has over 600.

To Mtambalika, any school that ignores ICT in teaching and learning is doing the country a great disservice.

“Before I built the library, I established a computer laboratory with internet access. All learners, from nursery to primary level, have access to the lab. No learner leaves this school without learning a thing or two about computers,” he says.

That is why learners like Wezzie operate computers as part of their daily learning routine.

Mtambalika visualises the private school discarding paper, pens and pencils within a decade.

“From September 2024, I will provide a laptop to every learner. So it’s one learner, one laptop. The learners will be using the laptop for taking notes, searching information, learning programmes and coding,” he explains.

The teachers have received computer training in preparation for the ambitious leap.

He explains: “I have purchased 300 learner-friendly laptops and our school is already connected to the Internet. Next academic year, I will distribute the computers to the upper classes to replace notebooks and the physical library.

“The learners will be taking the computers home and we will only be guiding in terms of what to do using the laptop. As a school, we will work with parents to ensure that the laptops are used efficiently for learning purposes.”.

Through this programme, learners such as Wezzie, who will turn 39 in 2063, will not just boost their digital skills, but also their lives in pursuit of Malawi 2063 national vision.

However, as the 600 students at Sparrows Academy are rising on the digital ladder, millions of young Malawians, especially those from poor households and rural areas where the majority go to public schools, are being left behind.

Due to widespread poverty, more learners in the country go to free primary schools than private academies where digital gadgets make teaching and learning simple.

Government policies, including the National Education Sector Plan, recognise ICT’s potential to improve education access, quality and management.

In practice, several schools remain underserved though some ICT-for-education initiatives, including the Unlocking Talent Project by Voluntary Service Overseas, have yielded positive results, raising literacy and numeracy in the primary school.

Similarly, online distance learning is making higher education more accessible though the concept is still in its infancy and requires a clear understanding by all stakeholders.

Reads a  recent study by Frank Mtemang’ombe, from the University of Malawi: “The efforts by various ICT interventions providers are unguided and unregulated and the process of conceptualising and implementing the ICT interventions in primary education is still in a form of experimentation, being led by the interventions providers rather than the Ministry of Education.”

Despite that, the government, through the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra), is constructing 75 ICT laboratory centres in community day secondary schools nationwide.

The Connect a School Project, funded by the Universal Service Fund, isolates as community ICT hubs for 40 000 students and 250 000 residents around the target schools.

Head of USF Ronald Tembo says the regulatory authority’s flagship project is in line with the national digitalisation policy.

He says: “In this project, we have taken a different model, we are working with the community, particularly artisans trained by Teveta [the  Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training Authority].

“Apart from constructing ICT laboratories in schools, Macra intends to construct 9 000 ICT laboratories in most public institutions. This project will cost the institution over K 7 billion.”

Besides, Macra plans to introduce Yathu Yathu data to provide affordable and reliable internet coverage in all the rural areas.

Professor Chomora Mikeka, director of science, technology and innovation in the Ministry of Education, says the project will help to build human capital to transform the ailing economy.

He states: “This is a crucial project as Malawians have demanded that we give every school an ICT lab to facilitate education digitalisation and digital transformation in the country.

“The project is a direct implementation of the Malawi 2063’s first Medium-Term Implementation Plan.”

Mikeka said 140 of the country’s 6 954 primary schools are connected to the Internet.

Through these baby steps, policymakers hope that more learners, not only the likes of Wezzie at Sparrows Academy, will be part of this ICT journey to 2063. However, the wait for the rural poor will be long and costly to their chances in life unless policymakers focus firmly on the public schools where they no longer send their children.

Without ICT for improved teaching and learning, the ordinary Malawian child could be getting an education for the dogs.