Attitude And Inspiration: The Ghanaian Teacher Who Taught IT
He has no resources, but he does have motivation. He may not have a computer, but he has the willpower to teach IT with chalk, a blackboard, and a whole lot of energy. The photo of this Ghanaian teacher drawing Microsoft Word has gone viral. It tells us that sometimes all we need is an attitude and inspiration to change or improve the world.
The hero of this story is Owura Kwadwo, an information and communication technology (ICT) teacher at a small school in Kumasi, Ghana. It is a rural area, without many educational institutions, and without internet. It may seem strange, but the students learn the basic skills of IT because they have to pass an exam.
Does this sound impossible? That’s not it. Even when the conditions are not great, as humans we can use our attitude and inspiration to overcome any obstacle. We can also inspire other people with this. We can show them that what’s missing doesn’t matter, it’s about what you do with what you have.
That is exactly what Owura Kwadwo does every day with his students. There is not a single child who does not feel motivated in his classroom. They all know that technology will help their country move forward.
Then the time comes when they finally have a computer in their hands and they know exactly how to use it. They owe that to their teacher.
The Ghanaian teacher who teaches IT without a computer
It’s amazing how easy and how fast images move around the world. It only takes a few minutes for everyone to see them. A few months ago , the world fell in love with Wang Fuman, the eight-year-old boy from rural China who walks 4.5 kilometers every day to get to school.
Temperatures in January can drop to -10. One day Wang Fuman came to school with his hair and eyebrows frozen, and his cheeks glowing red from the cold.
His classmates welcomed him with cheerful laughter. Then his teacher decided to take a picture of him and share it so the rest of the world could see a reality they weren’t aware of. Something similar happened in a classroom in Ghana. However, the main character here is not the cold, but the irony.
It is the story of an IT teacher without a computer. The students who are taught IT because they have to take an exam on this subject every year to prove that they can do it.
Make the difference
We could now talk about the known differences between first world countries and third world countries. Instead of talking about something we probably agree on, we’re going to talk about the people. We’re going to focus on the stories, the stories of people with names.
Owura Kwadwo teaches his students how to use a program that he has never used himself. However, that doesn’t mean that his students have to learn to use it when they go to work.
Every day he uses colorful chalk and a blackboard to make detailed drawings of the text editing program. He says he loves his students and will do anything to help them learn. All the teachers at this school do everything they can to help their students, but this teacher does even more.
He draws things as quickly as possible so that the students understand every process, function and assignment. He knows it is important that they are good at IT, because then they will stand out. It ensures that they have a better chance of finding a job later on.
Attitude and inspiration
Are these students really learning how to use Microsoft Word from a blackboard and a teacher who has never used a computer before? A lot of people would probably say you can’t.
However, these children are curious and motivated. Every day they have a visual stimulus that helps them to use their imagination. Their dream is to use a computer, and they know how to do it.
It’s good to know that important people in technology, such as Bill Gates, have studied without a computer. They didn’t learn to work on it at a young age and yet they have become the best in their field.
This Ghanaian teacher does the most important job: he gets his student interested. If there’s one thing we can learn about education, it’s that the best way to stimulate your students is attitude and inspiration.
a happy ending
Owura Kwadwo is a teacher from his heart and out of necessity. He knows that teaching IT without a computer is like teaching someone to drive without a car. It is difficult, but not impossible. Not if you put in all your effort and capture your students’ interest through images, colorful chalk, and assignments that help them visualize each step.
That’s why, just days after the images of this Ghanaian teacher went viral, Microsoft sent a computer to the school. The response to this story has been phenomenal.
Now we have to hope that this village and other villages in Ghana get the resources they need. Sometimes stories, like attitudes and inspiration from most humble people, are the things that change the world. This opens your eyes to all the things we can achieve with the right attitude and inspiration.
