The long queues that we witnessed on the 15th April 2010 at the ticketing centres of the 2010 Soccer World Cup got me thinking about the urgent need for bridging the digital divide in South Africa.
- primary,
- secondary,
- tertiary,higher ,
- consumer and
- adult education :
EDUCATION
Primary Education
There’s a Xhosa saying that goes like this: “Umthi ugotywa usemtsha” which basically means to bend the tree while it’s still growing, we should apply the same approach in educating our young people about the web. The use of technology and particularly the web should be inculcated at a tender age if we want to seriously bridge the digital divide.
Secondary Education
Currently our education system is designed in such a way that learners in schools take technology as a subject, in fact, in some cases learners have a choice not to take technology as a subject.
This is part of the problem in the sense that this leads to a situation where learners only come across the web at higher education institutions.Technology education should never be a choice it should be mandatory.
Higher Education
It’s sad to say that in this day in age we still produce graduates who can’t use the computer or use the web effectively. Once again, the problem lies in the fact that technology is still seen as the engine instead of the oil that makes it possible for the engine to function. The fact of the matter is that technology should be seen as an enabler to education. Each graduate should have used technology and the web to enable the education process during the academic period.
Consumer Education
My mom recently bought the Nokia 5800 and she’s using it mainly for sms and voice communication and never to access the web or email. The same is true for many other South Africans and I think in order to turn this situation around the mobile phone providers should educate their consumers in using mobile phones. This will go a long way in improving the penetration of technology in our country.
Adult Education
Lastly, senior people in our country hide behind the notion that technology is for young people and yet they use mobile phones and they are expected to be active participants in the economy. I think as young people we should take an active role in educating our grandmothers and grandfathers in using technology.
Education is just one of the tools that we can use to bridge the digital divide and I’m sure there are many other interventions. We all need to turn this situation around to avoid another embarrassing episode that we witnessed at the 2010 World Cup ticketing centres.
Another critical intervention is the development ICT Infrastructure in townships, more about this in my next blog.
Author : Wesley Diphoko
Wesley Diphoko is the Web Architect at the University of the Western Cape, he is very passionate about bridging the digital divide through the web. He is an active ICT player in the Western Cape, he currently serves as the Secretary General of the Black Information Technology Forum in the Western Cape region, he also sits on the boards of the Cape Information Technology Initiative (CITI) and Career Discovery Planet.
You can catch him on :
Facebook : facebook.com/wesleydiphoko
Twitter : twitter.com/wesleydiphoko
Email : wesleydiphoko@gmail.com
Watch what inspired this blogpost :
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