19 Sep 2018

Distance Education for Africa (DeAfrica) president, Mr Sidiki Traore, has called on African nations to divert from old system of class room education to online learning.

Speaking during an interview after African online professional graduates were awarded certificates in Gaborone, Mr Traore said in order for African nations to develop, they needed to move with the tide of digital era.
Mr Traore explained that online studying played an important role in so many professionals lives because they study and work simultaneously.

“I encourage Africans to enrol in online learning so that they can acquire skills.  We want to create a network of young African entrepreneurs who will create jobs and improve the welfare of their communities” he explained.

Ever since the organisation started operating in 2012, he said it managed to give scholarships to almost 2 500 recipients in 34 nations while in professional development courses, they assisted between 4 000 to 6 000.

Botswana and Kenya, he noted, had the highest number of online beneficiaries compared to other countries adding that in Botswana, they managed to assist 400 beneficiaries.

Mr Traore explained that their mission was to promote Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and alleviate poverty in Africa as well as improve access to efficient and effective world class training especially in rural areas of Africa. Despite making a positive impact in the lives of Africans, he said the institution was faced with challenges that included insufficient funding and low internet connections.

He said the intention was to see more Africans enrolling online and graduating in different courses and becoming problem solvers in their native nations.

One of the facilitators of the courses in the country, Mrs Margaret Chikwanje explained that she got to know about the programme on Facebook and took leap of faith and enrolled.

She therefore encouraged other professionals to enroll so that they can develop themselves and leave a legacy behind for their children.

Giving a word of encouragement, one of the graduates Mr Sebati Leshomo, said though he was sceptical to enrolling at first, he managed to enrol and the course equipped him in all respect.

After enrolling and graduating, he said he learnt the art of speaking and this made his professional life easier adding that he further went on to do his master s programme.

Giving a testimony,  Mr Johanes Botlogile, a graduate also narrated that he thought he could succeed in life without education, but pointed out that ever since he enrolled online courses, his started to aspire, have passion to pursue and elevate his career even more.

In his welcome remarks, Mr Kabo Garechaba, a promoter and facilitator of the courses in the country said online studying was a revolution which had to be adopted in African countries.

He reiterated that in order for Botswana to become a knowledge based economy, he needed to include online studying as part of his strategy in taking the nation forward.

DeAfrica is a non-profit Pan Africanist e-learning organization that encourages online studies and provide courses such as International Relations, Global Crisis, Business and Design thinking among others.

Mr Traores’ main goal is to contribute his expertise as a seasoned educator, instructional designer, cross-cultural liaison and translator to the development of quality long-distance education for Africa by developing and strengthening the network of Distance Education for Africa (DeAfrica). Ends