Some of us were lucky enough to grow up knowing how a real computer worked. We were able to click around, playing games like Minesweeper and Solitaire to improve our mouse skills.
But others, still to this day, are not so fortunate.
Take this class of learners at Betenase M/A Junior High School in the town of Sekyedumase, about two and half hours drive north of Ghana’s second city, Kumasi, for example.
According to Quartz, the school has no computers. But since 2011, 14- and 15-year-olds have been expected to write – and pass – a national exam (without which students cannot progress to high school), with information and communication technology (ICT) being one of the subjects.
Dedicated to the cause, as many are, one ICT teacher does what he can to help the learners pass – and his efforts have now gone viral.
Richard Appiah Akoto, 33, posted photos of himself “drawing on a blackboard with multi-coloured chalk, the features of a Microsoft Word processing window”. The students in his class can also be seen drawing it into their notebooks:
“This is not my first time [of drawing] it. I have been doing it anytime I am in the classroom…I like posting pictures on Facebook so I just felt like [sharing it]. I didn’t know it would get the attention of people like that”, says Akoto, who has been a teacher at the school for six years.
Take a look:
The post gained a lot of attention, with some of those typical TIA (this is Africa) responses. It also served as a source of inspiration to many, particularly for Africans in the tech community, and Microsoft eventually waded in:
However, Akoto noted that the school needs about 50 computers in order for his classes to really fulfil its promise.
I am sure Bill Gates can afford that, especially if he thinks he’s paying $22 for a box of pizza rolls.
