How Information Technology Can Help Africa’s Education System?

As every one knows most of the African countries are suffering civil war based not on ideology but tribalism, as is the case in Somalia. Even thought the African continent is plagued with clansmanship and civil war, no country has been suffering most than Somalia. Most of the countries in the continent have passed the stage of clansmanship but Somali is still stuck in this kind of thinking because of luck of information. The root cause of Somalia’s problems is the luck of education and information. Most Somalians believe that literacy is knowledge and skill, example is how they believe any one who can speak or write Arabic must be a good religious man without knowing any thing about the critical thinking required to translate the Koran and the Hadith. Another example is how they believe anyone who can speak English or Italian or just be able to make sound of other languages must be educated or skilled.

What we need to understand first of all is that literacy in itself does not bring benefits in terms of wealth, productivity, or real developments. Instead, literacy gives people practical skills, which help in the self-empowerment process; it is the beginning of the process not the whole process. It is my understanding Somalia is suffering debilitating ignorance not because of illiteracy but because of luck of information. It is ignorance that is causing many of the Somalia problems such as war and socio-economical problems.

Nations around the world are becoming more concerned with the development of all aspects of education and literacy, weather it is arts, mathematics and all subjects, through to information literacy, media and visual literacy, there are many aspects to this demanding task of making society interested in learning and motivated. One of the important places to achieving these tasks are libraries, libraries offer a real opportunities to assist in this work by providing open and accessible learning environments to students in different levels, from elementary student to a graduate or professional school university student. Students and teachers can access the most complete resource collection of information available to them in any area or subject matter. Libraries allow the wider community to easily have access to global information, which could lead them to be globally competitive. Libraries are where a love for literature, culture and global interdependence is understood and promoted.

Development or progress is not who is ruling the fertile lands of the Juba and Shebbele. Development is the increase of knowledge and skills, which help create potentials that can be applied to improve the quality of life for all citizens. Research after research showed that low levels of knowledge and inadequate innovative skills have contributed to the continuous failures in Somalia.

It is my understanding that it is not hard to create well informed and knowledgeable Somali citizens, neither it is too late to do it. I believe that information technology is the answer to creating knowledgeable and innovative citizens who will be centered in the causes of human and nation development. I also believe that information technology is the most cost saving way to developing our nation and bringing our society back in to the modern society. Everyone can recognize how information technology facilitates the flow of knowledge in modern society. Access to information is critical in participation in economic and political life at national and international levels. Advances in electronic communication networks have created enormous opportunities for developing countries.

Since Somalia is not a nation with a budget yet, we the Somali Diaspora should not invest on how our clansmen can take over Somali’s fertile lands, commit atrocities such rape, murder, and impose un-Islamic Shari’s to the minority groups in those lands. We should create a nation of educated and skilled citizens who would benefit the nation not the clan. The book famine in Somali can be compared to the food shortage in the country in 1992 before the UN and US intervention. Libraries do not exist at all and to rebuild them is a cost we would never be able to raise. The revolution in desktop publishing is the most promising rescue to the weak publishing industry. Cheap desktop or laptops, which could cost $100, could serve as the lifeline of the Somali nation to raise educated and skilled citizens.

The role of computers and electronic networking for processing and exchange of information is fundamentally phenomenal. There are many communication channels to sharing information such as the Wide Area Networks, which reduces the distance between users, linking users thousands of miles apart. This technology combined with intelligent global electronic networks form today's superhighway. To move a book donated from Europe or United States would take many days to reach its destination but this networking superhighways would deliver books in a matter of minutes if not seconds; and they are way cheaper.

I know and do well understand Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which is about the predetermined in order of importance in ones life. I know that the nation of Somalia it self is stuck in the first lower level of Maslow's hierarchy. The notion of information technology and Somalia is hard to picture togather, but the fact is the country has been loosing for the last 30 years. We must seek a better way to starting gaining those lost years in the most eficency way and information technology can help a lot. I hope many of us would realize this sooner than later.

Fakarudin M. Mohamed
MIS, MBA
Email: fkrdnmohamed@gmail.com