Do you remember a teacher named Richard Akoto from Ghana who used to teach computer science to little ones in school without a personal computer, just in the school board using the most ordinary chalk boards?
After the pictures of his lesson went viral on the web, many kind people volunteered to help this African school financially, even Microsoft leaned into the issue by promising to donate a computer.
At the same time, Akoto noted that a single machine cannot essentially solve the problem, and many more devices are needed for full-fledged teaching of this and other disciplines.
And so, not so long ago, another company volunteered to help the village teacher – the NIIT computer school, which donated five computers to Akoto students at the times, and the man himself received his personal laptop.
The event even prompted many Ghanaians to consider nominating Akoto for the national teacher of the year award, the main prize of which, in addition to recognition, is to receive a house as a gift in a place chosen by the winner.
In a conversation with Quartz, Akoto noted that the school needs around 50 devices for the full operation of the IT classroom. A month after the pictures became popular, the teacher received the first donations.
On March 12, the NIIT African Computer School donated five computers, several unnamed “accessories” and computer textbooks to the school. Akoto received a personal laptop.
A few days earlier, an employee of the University of Leeds in the UK had sent the students another brand new laptop.
A 13-year-old student from the school noted that before that he had only seen computers in photos and in a dump during a trip to the nearest town.
On March 1, Microsoft promised to give Akoto a computer and access to educational programs. The delivery of the device will take place during the Microsoft conference in Singapore, where an African teacher was invited.
Akoto has previously revealed that her goal is to prepare little ones for the national IT exam, where kids from wealthy towns and villages are given the same homework. In 2017, one of the students helped by Akoto obtained the highest mark in the exam.
