The Betenase M-A Junior High School in Ghana’s Sekyedomase town does not have computers.
But that did not deter Richard Appiah Akoto from teaching his kids about computers.
He would draw computers or the applications/softwares he was teaching with different-coloured chalks on his blackboard, and then explain them to his students.
Akoto’s photos recently went viral and were noticed and shared across the world.
Soon enough, NIIT took notice and decided to help the teacher and his school out.
Ashish Kumar, the NIIT centre manager in Accra, said: “We saw the news getting viral on Facebook and were so touched by the teacher’s dedication that we decided to support the school with the best we could do as an IT training organisation.
“We took a printout of the post and discussed the matter with our group CEO Kapil Gupta. He is the one who decided to sponsor five new desktops and books for the school and a new laptop for the teacher as a part of our social and corporate responsibility.”
Microsoft Africa also took notice and invited Akoto to their Education Exchange in Singapore. It is Akoto’s first time outside Ghana and he’s very excited. At the event, he spoke to TechCrunch about teaching computers without computers:
“I wanted to teach them how to launch Microsoft Word. But I had no computer to show them. So, I decided to draw what the screen looks like on the blackboard with chalk. I have been doing this every time the lesson I’m teaching demands it. I’ve drawn monitors, system units, keyboards, a mouse, a formatting toolbar, a drawing toolbar, and so on. The students were okay with that. They are used to me doing everything on the board for them.”
Akoto’s efforts have paid off and now his students can finally learn on actual computers.
Just goes to show that the universe (and the internet) does conspire to make your hard work and dreams come true!