UNDERSTANDING / TECHNICAL SKILL

Quality teaching brought industrial revolution of 18^th century and had created jobs and growth. Nowadays, Information and Communication Technology issued from industrial revolution is boosting teaching method in developed countries. Africa stills in the traditional way of teaching. After my Africa trip about this research on the Education System, I thought we have to rethink the mission, the philosophy and the organization of Education if we want the continent to grow up and give opportunity to African to have better future. It’s not right to deny the effort of many countries and education policy makers across the entire continent to enhance education but it’s time to move over, to go to another level for the best of Africa.

Education in Africa needs to be adapted to the 21^st century, the needs of the Continent and what we want it to be. The role of teachers in this adaptation is a new challenge and a commitment between all forces engaged in education and jobs creation for sustainable development in Africa. The Continent needs engineers and scientists. In the whole Africa, education is based on pure theoretical lesson because the teacher had theoretical lesson when he or she was student. This circle of theoretical teaching will never develop the continent. Africa needs:

• Laboratory in every primary and secondary school.
• The high schools and universities need to be guided in project pedagogy and research focus on implementation accordance to local development policy.
• No one will come from London, New York or Paris to spread lab equipments and lab skills in schools in Africa. All over the continent, teachers are very interested to do lab but they have neither the equipment nor the skill and the procedure. Every single industrial and scientist mechanism is based on procedure. The students have to do their lab according to the step by step procedure. Africa has to create appropriate equipments for the schools and teacher needs to be trained to:
  • Create some simple equipments
  • Write down step by step procedure for all lab
  • Integrate lab in everyday lesson
• The government have to put a substantial percent of the DGP in education

Africans are talented. Pupils and youth will change this continent if we give them opportunity to grow up in scientist culture. We will not achieve sustainable development when we don’t have technical skill and procedure of industrial mechanisms. There is a big gap between understanding and practice skill. You can understand but without lab and practice you don’t have technical skill and the understanding stills pure theoretical.

OPEM is engaged in the following commitment:

1. Science lesson should be evident for African kids as it is in developed countries. The aim is to bring the kids until they say “today I am able to…” or “today I have understood …” Practice and Experimentation are the best way to help youth to understand and to implement what they have understood in their everyday life. There is no development without technology and technical skill is the basis of technology.  
   • Every single school In Africa should have science laboratory.
   • A large part of the equipments can be made by the teachers, using African product as I do.
   • STEM BOX can be made according to the region. The BOX could move from school to school. OPEM is available to supply STEM BOX and help teachers to make their own BOX
   • Teachers need training on the following topics:
     • How to create lab equipments?
     • Step by step procedure of experimentation
     • Security and lab classroom management
     • The methodology of laboratory for better results
     • Report and assessment in lab
   • Learning by doing
   • Implementation of lab and research

2. ICT enhanced science teaching in Africa
   • Practice Conference
     • Linear teaching method or old teaching method
     • Linear teaching method or old teaching method
     • ICT for quality science teaching in 21^st century or global teaching method.
     • Lesson on the screen and not only on the black board
     • Lesson always with the youth.
     • ICT and techno pedagogy

3. The five different parts of science lesson – Africa 21st century
   • Theoretical – ICT
   • Lab – Practice – Experimentation ICT and implementation
   • Computer Calculation
   • Computer Drawing
   • Research ICT
4. Assessment – Africa 21st century
   • Teachers workshop
     • ICT and assessment
     • Lab and assessment
5. Project pedagogy (for technology and practice teachers)
   • Teachers workshop
     • Innovation and creation

We can’t continue to support exploitation. Africa needs heavy industries and infrastructures that must be created by Africans and we cannot achieve without changing radically our science teaching method

Victor J. K. AFANOU