Teachers must be at the forefront of mainstreaming ICT in education

On Thursday, December 14, Rwanda marked World Teachers’ Day, a special occasion dedicated to celebrating and honoring the contributions of the over 120,000 teachers in the country. Hosted at the Intare Conference Arena, the day also served as an opportunity to advocate for better working conditions, training, and professional development for the educators. ALSO READ: World Teachers’ Day: ICT Minister urges teachers to drive technology use in education At the heart of the celebrations was the call for teachers to be at the centre of advancing technology use in education, if they are to remain relevant in today’s era of technology. It is also one sure way of mainstreaming the digital revolution within our learning ecosystem. The message was clear. At the heart of education lies communication - active or passive, and over the years, there have been changes in the way humans have communicated and the process has been accelerating at an unprecedented rate, with advances in communication technologies. This, in turn, has had a significant impact on the learning outcomes. ALSO READ: More effort needed to scale up ICT in education – Ministry of Education For way too long, education, in any form evolved with industry’s needs, when machines handled by humans helped manufacturing processes scale up to meet the demands of the growing population. The teacher and books were the students’ primary sources of information whose degree of possession made people educated or smarter. However, in today’s era, teachers are becoming facilitators of learning rather than the primary source of knowledge. This role was cemented in the Competence Based Curriculum that went into force a few years back. One of the significant changes in the role of teachers is the integration of technology into teaching to be able to fit into their new role. They are therefore expected to be proficient in using technology to create interactive lessons, assess student progress, and provide personalized feedback. ALSO READ: Teachers Day: Uwimana’s 28-year journey, nurturing dreams and shaping lives of pupils To boost the digital revolution among Rwandan teachers, during the celebrations, a total of 1,058 outstanding teachers were awarded with smartphones, free unlimited calls, coupled with 4G internet for an entire year. This is part of a larger programme launched as part of the celebrations, teachers were told. With access to new tools, teachers can personalize learning for individual students. The technologies can also analyze student data and provide insights into their learning style, strengths, and weaknesses. For teachers, this information can help them tailor their teaching methods to suit individual students' needs, leading to improved learning outcomes. This is a win for Rwandan teachers, and yes, keeping teachers and students at the forefront of education technology is a must. Equally important, however, the technologies must be designed with a student-centered approach. Ordinarily, this means that digital tools should enhance, not replace, the essential teacher-student interaction for better learning outcomes.

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Teachers must be at the forefront of mainstreaming ICT in education