It’s been a busy few weeks for Richard Appiah Akoto the Ghanaian teacher who taught Microsoft Word with only a blackboard.
Mr Akoto was flown to Singapore for a Microsoft Education conference where he received a standing ovation. Quite something for his first trip outside Ghana.
“I wanted to teach them how to launch Microsoft Word. But I had no computer to show them. I had to do my best. So, I decided to draw what the screen looks like on the blackboard with chalk,”
“I drew the features and labelled them correctly so that they would know what-was-what. Then I drew what you would see on your computer screen after launching Word.”
“I have been doing this every time the lesson I’m teaching demands it. I’ve drawn monitors, system units, keyboards, a mouse, a formatting toolbar, a drawing toolbar, and so on.”
Microsoft has promised continuing support for Mr Akoto and his students in the form of education, software and devices.
Meantime, NIIT Ghana, the local subsidiary of the Indian IT firm, has donated five desktop computers. Books and a laptop for Mr Akoto.
Source: NIIT Ghana
A great result for Mr Akoto, his school and students. But let’s not forget the thousands of other schools across the globe in similar situations. As well as a widening wealth gap, there’s a technology gap that we here in the ‘west’ aren’t really aware of.
