During two weeks in June, a five-member expedition from Slovakia visited two schools in the Kasigau area in the south of Kenya. Its members - three teachers from the Elementary School in Bošany, a manager of Microsoft and a project manager of the Pontis Foundation - taught local teachers to use information technology in teaching. For example, they were taught how to work with the PowerPoint program. "On Wednesday, they saw PowerPoint for the first time, and on Saturday they had prepared an almost six-hour presentation about the school," said Roman Baranovič, manager of educational projects at Microsoft Slovakia, after returning. "We were especially pleasantly surprised by how Kenyan teachers realize that mastering technology is important for the future. They already knew the basics of working with a computer - as we learned, even before they received technical equipment - they were learning to work with a computer without a computer," he added. The project aimed at training Kenyan teachers in information technologies was launched in January 2010 by the Pontis Foundation with a contribution from Slovak Aid. It is based on the experience of the Slovak educational project Innovative Teacher, which won the Via Bona Slovakia 2008 award.
Despite the less than ideal living conditions in the town of Rukanga, even the teachers from the Bošan primary school did not regret participating in the expedition. "I am very happy that I could be part of the team in Kenya. In the Notebook for every student project, we learned a lot about how to use computers in our work, and I was happy to share these experiences with the teachers in Rukanga," said Ivana Mikulová, an English language teacher at the Elementary School in Bošany.
In the classroom at Moi High School Kasigau in Rukanga, which was equipped with computers as part of the Pontis Foundation project, the Slovak expedition brought additional technologies - a visualizer, a projector, an interactive whiteboard, a digital camera. "We are very lucky that they chose our school for the project. We learned a lot in five days. Our students will also gain a lot thanks to these computers. We are very grateful to you," said Christopher Musyoka, a computer science teacher from the school in Rukanga.
In addition to the training of teachers, the Slovak expedition also reserved time for training for local people, regardless of age, who also see mastery of technology as a path to a better future.
After the trip to Kenya, the project continues. In November, for a change, the Kenyan teachers are to come to Slovakia and deepen their knowledge in Slovak schools.
Source: http://www.nadaciapontis.sk
The article was published in the Development Aid - Fall 2010 newsletter. It is published by Platforma mimovládnych rozvojových organizácií (MVRO), which is an association of legal entities - an umbrella organization of 31 (23 regular members and 8 observers) Slovak non-governmental organizations that deal mainly with foreign development and humanitarian aid.