Tanzanian Association Oslo

Tanzanian students warned

against cramming information

when reading

By Friday Simbaya

28TH NOVEMBER 2009

A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) student at the University of Joensuu of Finland, Department of Computer Science and Statistics, Marcus Duveskog has challenged students to desist from memorizing things and instead, concentrate on building skills.

Dr Duveskog said this yesterday during computer exhibitions where at least 16 kids were presented certificates at Ukombozi Primary School after two very intensive weeks of learning at the school in Iringa Muncipal Council in Iringa Region.

Duveskog who is also a researcher at Tumaini University, Iringa Campus, said that the education system in Tanzania has made most of the students both in primary and secondary schools and even in higher learning institutions to memorize things, something which denies them building on skills creativity.

“Students should not memorize things but should learn to understand things to answer examinations questions,” he emphasized.

Ukombozi Primary School is the first public primary school in Tanzania which has received 100 XO Mini computers with Internet-connection, through One Laptop per Child (OLPC) campaigns. One Laptop per Child is a campaign to provide some of the world’s poorest children rugged, low-cost and energy efficient laptops with Internet connectivity and learning software.

Parents and guardians were amazed during the computer exhibitions, of what the kids achieved, and the headmaster of Ukombozi Primary School, Martin Yesaya, took the chance to market his school as a unique one in Tanzania.

Yesaya admitted that his school has a shortage of teachers to teach English language, thus making
students fail to cope with the world of science and technology as everything is done in English.

Dr Duveskog concurred that most primary and secondary schools in Tanzania are facing an acute shortage of English language teachers, which made it difficult for him to communicate with students and forced him to look for an interpreter during the intensive workshop which was dubbed the ‘Working for my Dreams.’

The workshop was organized by University of Joensuu, Finland in collaboration with Tumaini University-Iringa, Tanzania.

Earlier on, three Tumaini University-Iringa College’s Information Technology (IT) students had won a grant from the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Association in the United States of America, to deploy laptops to children at Ukombozi Primary School in Iringa.

In March 2009, OLPC Association announced a competition for projects that develop children’s skills with computers. By doing so, the OLPC aimed at bridging the digital divide between children of industrialized countries and those from developing countries.

In the race, 220 applications worldwide plus a team of Tumaini University IT students made it to the 30 selected universities. Tumaini University’s team is one of the few purely African teams to win the grant. However, Uruguay has become the first nation to provide a laptop for every primary school student in the world.