Improving through Practical Training, Research, Networks and Experiences, Etc
I get into a lot of discussion on Whatsapp groups these days. For good reason and good measure :-)
I have blogged about some of those via these - especially about volunteerism due to a conversation I was part of in the NUGS Volta Women's Bloc.
In April 2020, a video about Fred McBagonluri was circulating on Ghanaian Whatsapp. Fred went to MIT (my alma mater), was the first Dean of Engineering at Ashesi (one of my favorite universities worldwide) and he now leads Academic City which is also doing and growing well.
Someone reacted to the video seeming to say Fred is able to do the things he does because he went to a top university abroad. I went to one of those and that is not the whole story. Africans who go to universities in Africa can also be world class. Let me expand upon my thoughts with actual submissions I made on the Whatsapp page - called South Tongu Business Hub. Those from Sogakope and nearby, what's up?
KNUST alumni who are exposed and have educated themselves very well can do what Fred is doing. Study Isaac Sesi and what he is doing with Sesi Technologies, them dey force! If you are part of the KNUST community like Isaac was and you join great networks and learn under the right people and organizations, you'd be fine. Yes, the challenges dey plenty. Follow the good advice and you'd see good results. Cherubim Mawuli who is #NotYourAverageGhanaian like Isaac Sesi, shared some when we were having the discussion. Like Isaac, he is a KNUST alumni. They both were part of the first cohort of social entrepreneurs trained by GhanaThink's GYSEP which is now called Komseko. Mawuli co-founded Ho Node, a hub working with lots of youth in the Volta Region. One thing I love about Isaac as well is his features on awesome young Africans.
I am really proud of lots of university students in Ghana who have thrived due to networks they joined, training they went through etc. Ivy Barley was also part of this cohort (another KNUST alum), and she has done a great job with Developers In Vogue. She currently works at the Microsoft HQ. Isaac Sesi was featured in the MIT Technology Review. He has really been able to practice engineering and continues to succeed at it, running a great startup, garnering many grants and winning various competitions.
In MIT, every student (including engineering) is forced to take 8 humanities classes which cover arts and business before graduation. This makes students well rounded, it stems from how students are even admitted. That might be hard to do in the current education systems in Ghana especially at high school level. But if the schools and universities can find a way for students to take subject classes and not always classes with those in their one class, this can be done more easily. Students must be well exposed to the community around them, experience peer mentoring and pick up great information.
While we wait for GES and co, we must contribute through extra-curricular etc. It's for our collective benefit. There are several clubs which encourage and run extra-curricular courses. Some teachers should take their time to introduce some in the core subjects. It is tougher these days with the huge class sizes (due to Free SHS, etc) but still workable. The educators reading this, don't fail us. Akpe.
Ensure the clubs are being used effectively, make sure as many students join them. Involve external organizations to support the clubs. Bring more professionals into the classroom and find good ways to teach with them. Encourage poetry when teaching English, or robotics when teaching Integrated science, or journalism when teaching Social Studies. Allow students to sit in a Physics or Catering class if they have the chance.
We hear about practical training all the time. We cant belabor that point. It involves more creativity in teaching and teachers can get help to do this well. But it stems from understanding. If you understand concepts you are teaching or training on well, you can use lots of local examples to drive the concept home. If the teachers want to improve themselves, they'd learn how to do this accordingly. It makes them better teachers, better workers elsewhere and better entrepreneurs. We need to technocreate.
If one doesn't have the diversity of training etc in schools in Ghana, they can gain this elsewhere. Track records, ability to deliver and demonstration of skills can be gained through who you work with, where you work, how and where and why you volunteer, etc. Some opportunities would require formal education but increasingly, if you prove how good you are, lots of great organizations would work with you.
Besides, that's the internet is there for. If you believe the formal education in our part of the world is not great, there are several online classes to take or videos to watch to learn something different. MIT has been sharing its courses on line for free since 2006 through OCW. I have realised that several university students in Ghana are almost like students who went to top universities abroad because of how much they learnt on the internet, and learning from great places. This had held true from the times of those who run 233Tech, Leti Arts till today, creating success stories.
I suggested that one of the members in the Whatsapp group, Bismark Nartey, tell us more about Joshua Otoo who he was in the Kosmos Innovation Center Agritech Challenge with in 2019. Joshua never went through formal education like many in Ghana did. But through his curiosity and environment (he grew up in a village), he learnt a lot from the internet and is one of the foremost people around internet of things and tech amongst youth in Africa.
I had interviewed Joshua Opoku Agyemang Otoo on the Konnect Kouch for Accra Konnect 2 just a few days before. I was trying to.understand why and how he is different. We need to know stories like Joshua's so we tell everyone. We can mainstream his attitude by multimedia productions, organizations reaching more kids and driving similar good messages, and arming ourselves with great examples to share anytime.
But teachers and students are more interested in exams, many would say. If the end result is doing well in.exams, teachers can trust that their methods would make students pass. Otherwise, if they know they're doing the best for the students and have examples they can show, the future would decide and show they were right and those who need to thank the teachers would thank them.
Joshua's story reminds me of William Kamkwamba's. Aren't we glad that his story has been made into a movie!!!!? Every African has to watch that movie - The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind. I got to know of his story quite early, thanks to Twitter, even before he ended up becoming a student of the African Leadership Academy in South Africa. This Malawian boy's story was so inspirational. He shared his story at TED Global in Arusha in 2007 and he was also at MakerFaire Africa in 2009 organized by fellow Barcamp Ghana co-founders Henry Barnor and Nii Simmonds. He was also on the Daily Show before Trevor Noah became the host.
Trevor Noah became famous in South Africa and in African circles before he got the chance to host one of the most popular talk shows in the world. His training locally, his research online to see what is happening elsewhere, his networks all got him to his current status. Many youth in Africa can leverage stories like these above to improve and do better and better.
We all need to contribute to this in our communities to ultimately make our cultural neighbourhoods better. I told those in the Whatsapp group, "We here especially have to rise above excuses. We can learn how to do well so we have less and less excuses". More vim to us all as we improve so we all improve!
I have blogged about some of those via these - especially about volunteerism due to a conversation I was part of in the NUGS Volta Women's Bloc.
In April 2020, a video about Fred McBagonluri was circulating on Ghanaian Whatsapp. Fred went to MIT (my alma mater), was the first Dean of Engineering at Ashesi (one of my favorite universities worldwide) and he now leads Academic City which is also doing and growing well.
Someone reacted to the video seeming to say Fred is able to do the things he does because he went to a top university abroad. I went to one of those and that is not the whole story. Africans who go to universities in Africa can also be world class. Let me expand upon my thoughts with actual submissions I made on the Whatsapp page - called South Tongu Business Hub. Those from Sogakope and nearby, what's up?
KNUST alumni who are exposed and have educated themselves very well can do what Fred is doing. Study Isaac Sesi and what he is doing with Sesi Technologies, them dey force! If you are part of the KNUST community like Isaac was and you join great networks and learn under the right people and organizations, you'd be fine. Yes, the challenges dey plenty. Follow the good advice and you'd see good results. Cherubim Mawuli who is #NotYourAverageGhanaian like Isaac Sesi, shared some when we were having the discussion. Like Isaac, he is a KNUST alumni. They both were part of the first cohort of social entrepreneurs trained by GhanaThink's GYSEP which is now called Komseko. Mawuli co-founded Ho Node, a hub working with lots of youth in the Volta Region. One thing I love about Isaac as well is his features on awesome young Africans.I am really proud of lots of university students in Ghana who have thrived due to networks they joined, training they went through etc. Ivy Barley was also part of this cohort (another KNUST alum), and she has done a great job with Developers In Vogue. She currently works at the Microsoft HQ. Isaac Sesi was featured in the MIT Technology Review. He has really been able to practice engineering and continues to succeed at it, running a great startup, garnering many grants and winning various competitions.
In MIT, every student (including engineering) is forced to take 8 humanities classes which cover arts and business before graduation. This makes students well rounded, it stems from how students are even admitted. That might be hard to do in the current education systems in Ghana especially at high school level. But if the schools and universities can find a way for students to take subject classes and not always classes with those in their one class, this can be done more easily. Students must be well exposed to the community around them, experience peer mentoring and pick up great information.
While we wait for GES and co, we must contribute through extra-curricular etc. It's for our collective benefit. There are several clubs which encourage and run extra-curricular courses. Some teachers should take their time to introduce some in the core subjects. It is tougher these days with the huge class sizes (due to Free SHS, etc) but still workable. The educators reading this, don't fail us. Akpe.
We hear about practical training all the time. We cant belabor that point. It involves more creativity in teaching and teachers can get help to do this well. But it stems from understanding. If you understand concepts you are teaching or training on well, you can use lots of local examples to drive the concept home. If the teachers want to improve themselves, they'd learn how to do this accordingly. It makes them better teachers, better workers elsewhere and better entrepreneurs. We need to technocreate.
If one doesn't have the diversity of training etc in schools in Ghana, they can gain this elsewhere. Track records, ability to deliver and demonstration of skills can be gained through who you work with, where you work, how and where and why you volunteer, etc. Some opportunities would require formal education but increasingly, if you prove how good you are, lots of great organizations would work with you.
Besides, that's the internet is there for. If you believe the formal education in our part of the world is not great, there are several online classes to take or videos to watch to learn something different. MIT has been sharing its courses on line for free since 2006 through OCW. I have realised that several university students in Ghana are almost like students who went to top universities abroad because of how much they learnt on the internet, and learning from great places. This had held true from the times of those who run 233Tech, Leti Arts till today, creating success stories.
I suggested that one of the members in the Whatsapp group, Bismark Nartey, tell us more about Joshua Otoo who he was in the Kosmos Innovation Center Agritech Challenge with in 2019. Joshua never went through formal education like many in Ghana did. But through his curiosity and environment (he grew up in a village), he learnt a lot from the internet and is one of the foremost people around internet of things and tech amongst youth in Africa.
I had interviewed Joshua Opoku Agyemang Otoo on the Konnect Kouch for Accra Konnect 2 just a few days before. I was trying to.understand why and how he is different. We need to know stories like Joshua's so we tell everyone. We can mainstream his attitude by multimedia productions, organizations reaching more kids and driving similar good messages, and arming ourselves with great examples to share anytime.
But teachers and students are more interested in exams, many would say. If the end result is doing well in.exams, teachers can trust that their methods would make students pass. Otherwise, if they know they're doing the best for the students and have examples they can show, the future would decide and show they were right and those who need to thank the teachers would thank them.
Joshua's story reminds me of William Kamkwamba's. Aren't we glad that his story has been made into a movie!!!!? Every African has to watch that movie - The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind. I got to know of his story quite early, thanks to Twitter, even before he ended up becoming a student of the African Leadership Academy in South Africa. This Malawian boy's story was so inspirational. He shared his story at TED Global in Arusha in 2007 and he was also at MakerFaire Africa in 2009 organized by fellow Barcamp Ghana co-founders Henry Barnor and Nii Simmonds. He was also on the Daily Show before Trevor Noah became the host.
Trevor Noah became famous in South Africa and in African circles before he got the chance to host one of the most popular talk shows in the world. His training locally, his research online to see what is happening elsewhere, his networks all got him to his current status. Many youth in Africa can leverage stories like these above to improve and do better and better.
We all need to contribute to this in our communities to ultimately make our cultural neighbourhoods better. I told those in the Whatsapp group, "We here especially have to rise above excuses. We can learn how to do well so we have less and less excuses". More vim to us all as we improve so we all improve!
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