Developing Nations Connected
Education systems in developed and developing nations is such an interesting piece for me to talk about, Currently I work in a developed country, Canada, but I have also had many opportunities to work in developing nations such as Viet Nam, Africa, Peru, and India. I must state when I worked in these developing nations it was over the past decade, and lets be honest technology has become even more prevalent world wide in just the last few years. Each one of these countries that I worked in have a huge similarity and that is the schools main goal was to provide children with a safe environment to go each day. It was not the sole goal for children to learn while at school like math, science and English in developed countries, but to teach about hygiene, provide food, clothes and warmth with some laughter and singing. All of these rural communities I worked in did not have even one book for children to look at or even electricity. The resources available to the students were oral stories told by their community members or ‘teachers,’ this philosophy aliens to Canadians First Nations traditions of teaching.
There are some great companies or organizations that want to promote literacy for all students around the world. When I was teaching in Africa in a small Masai village through Responsible Travel the majority of my fee went back into the villages development fund; this fund helped build a community center that had two computers (that were old windows programs from the 90’s) and electricity. It was interesting to see when walking from village to village Massai villagers would pass off their cell phones to strangers if they were going to the Community centre to charge it for them. I find this very odd as no village had electricity but ever villager had a cell phone. It just became mandatory for all Kenyan children to attend school when I was working there, which was fantastic, but small villages did not have any resources. They had a one-room schoolhouse with a chalkboard that was it. So it is great to see organization such as African Library Project, an American based organization collect books to build libraries in African communities. How this organization works is:
1. The African schools and communities apply through a local partner organization to request a library. Each school or community is required to provide the space, bookshelves and staffing for the library, which encourages sustainability. They also specify the kinds of books needed for greatest impact.
2. We match each approved African library project with a U.S.-based school, organization or individual that agrees to collect gently used books and to raise the money to ship the books.
3. We support both parties to create a fabulous library! On the U.S. side, we support book drive organizers with specific tools and methods to collect 1000 books and raise $500 per library project. On the Africa side, we provide a manual on how to set up and run a library in a developing country. We also provide limited training and follow up to evaluate each project and encourage good library practices, so that donated books reach those who need them most.
As Teachers we think about technology as computers, Ipads, phones, anything electronic, but many developing counties see technology as paper, pens and books. In African alone the literate rate among adults and children is below 50%, so for these communities to have physical books is like winning the lottery.
For many developing nations electricity, technology or internet connectivity is an big issue. So how do we, developing countries, help support these nations with technology or literacy support. Well there is this amazing company called One Laptop Per Child, a nonprofit organization that provides rugged low cost, low power connected laptop, please watch the video below.
This organization can help move developing nations to the 21st
century learning with a big emphasis on supporting literacy globally through
technology. Another avenue both developing and developed nations can learn from
each other is through Skype in the classroom, where students and teachers can connect with another classroom
from around the world or have experts talk to your students over skype. There
is so much information at our finger trips in the 21st century and
we as teachers need to support and teach our students how to become global
citizens.
Resources
African Library Project. Retrieved Oct 25 2017 from:
One Laptop Per Child. Retrieved Oct 25 2017 from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=72&v=qMeX2D4AOjM
Responsible Travel. Retrieved Oct 26, 2017 from:
Skype in the classroom. Retrieved Oct 26, 2017 from:
interesting to learn about your overseas teaching experience and a good reminder about the relationships behind the technology is so important. Their are so may languages especially african languages underserved with literature in their native language and so the African book project is so important. Our school uses computers for schools program where we get used computer refurbished and this is a good reminder to not throw out your old computer.Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your own personal narrative and experience in your teaching abroad. I think it is so easy for us to think of school as something that is so heavily focused on literacy and math, whereas as you point out, it is highly culturally dependent. The "school" is seen as a safer place to grow and develop. Resources to them include paper, pencils or even just the teacher, nevermind technology. This is something that I touch on in my post, because we can be so oblivious and caught up in our own understanding of what school is, but there are even shortfalls in our own country. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about your experience of working in a developing nation. Being on the ground rather than reading about it second or third hand changes perception. I remember when One laptop per Child came out. We bought one for us and one was donated. I thought it was a great idea but wondered about maintaining the equipment in the placements. The African book project was also very interesting. I read the book about the areas that had the 'book mobile' camel come out every few weeks and the conflict was whether this helped to improve the lives of the people or was a distraction.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed reading your post. Thank you for sharing about Responsible Travel. I have not heard of it and it sounds very interesting. As I am planning to do some traveling at some point in the near future, I would like to explore this opportunity. Africa is one country on my bucket list. It was very interesting to read about the African Library Project. Reading about countries such as Africa where their literacy rate is below 50% makes me realize how lucky we are in Canada where we have so much and so many opportunities to access literature, information and education. Also it has made me realize how much more I value our education system.
ReplyDeleteExcellent personalized post about the challenges and realities of trying to support very remote underdeveloped communities with resources and support that meets the needs of the local community. A good discussion of the specific needs and realities of these communities where these is little access to power, but everyone has a cell-phone. Also, good discussion of the OLPC program which has had ups and downs over the years, but continues to work towards supporting communities with robust devices. Good post.
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