Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Andrew Carnegie once said, “A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.” Today, libraries are just as important as they were in Carnegie’s time, serving as ‘e-hubs,’ where citizens can access scholarly research from around the world.
The Ebola crisis in West Africa exposed the overwhelming need for trained healthcare professionals. But as many educational institutions are already stretched to their capacities, more and more eLearning modules are being developed to train much-needed nurses, midwives and other health workers outside the classroom.
“The opposite of ‘open’ isn’t closed. The opposite of open is broken.” This quote, by the open-access advocate John Wilbanks, isn’t just applicable to the realm of data – it’s relevant to education, too.
His wife left him, his family disowned him and he was labelled mentally ill all for trying to create a new way of life, but Ethiopian farmer Zumra Nuru has since proven that his ideas for equality and justice were the key to reducing poverty and increasing development. Starting from scratch in 1972, Nuru has created a democratic, sustainable community, where women and men […]
After reaching its long-term goal of gaining accreditation in 2014, the University of the People (UoPeople), the world’s first tuition-free, non-profit, accredited online university, is setting its sights on Africa.
With a bit of “luck, good timing and hard work,” Kenyan entrepreneur Tonee Ndungu has been attracting attention both locally and abroad for his innovative solution that makes educational content affordable and accessible to middle and low income families.
Andrews Nchessie is a teacher at both Kasungu Demonstration School, and Kasungu Teacher Training College in Malawi. Beyond that, he is a pioneer within the Malawian educational system, developing new and improved ways for young Malawian children to learn, and also for Malawian teachers to improve how they teach their young students.
Is limited access to the Internet better than no access at all? This is a question posed by John Naughton, author and professor of the public understanding of technology at the Open University, in a recent Guardian diatribe against a Facebook app that offers free connectivity to developing nations. Naughton’s answer is ‘no’.
Looking back upon 2014, one of the more striking tech stories has been the rate at which ICT continues to penetrate, and emerge from within, Africa.
Plans are currently being laid for a new era of development, as the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) edge closer to their 2015 expiry date. What will replace them will be a more inclusive framework that leverages new technology and innovation to help reach targets.
