PRESENTS
ICT AND THE GROWING CHILD
Venue: Huhunnya, Eastern Region
Date: 3rd August, 2013
PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY SORONKO SOLUTIONS (www.soronkosolutions.com)
DEVELOPING POSITIVE IMAGE THROUGH INFORMATION TECHNOLOG
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
PerVita Foundation is committed to the use of human potentials in achieving its objectives in the areas of health, education and livelihood. The direction of achievement lies with creative activities which will draw the attention of the general public in building a healthy environment through education and maintaining a positive life style.
PerVita Foundation wishes to indulge growing children into ICT by way of competitive analysis. The ICT session, will bring on board creative ideas from growing children whiles we package such ideas and groom them into greater realities for the children and the nation at large.
2. PROBLEM STATEMENT
The growing child is seen as adventurous and curious and it is at this point that development of skills and talents are given that needed attention. The use of ICT has been a big developmental issue confronting the youth in Africa. Despite the growing infrastructure and advances in ICT, computer and internet use has largely been concentrated in the cities with a huge disadvantage to those in the rural areas. Even with the introduction of ICT in the education curriculum, most schools lack ICT infrastructure and the lessons also do not develop ICT skills, such as programming and software development. It is mainly exam oriented and thus does not encourage creativity in the youth. Most of the youth explore ICT use on their own in internet cafés without guidance and pick up bad ICT practices; such as internet fraud and visiting undesired sites. In effect, the trend of ICT in the 21st Century has carried a lot of positive and negative vibes by way of its usage.
The idea of this event is to eradicate the negative perspective attached to ICT in the growing child. By way of this event, PVF would like to channel its resources and energies to ensure positivity in development of the growing child through ICT.
Dream Hunt (our charity affiliate) had a prior chat with an old man at about 56 years and the conversation was to find about the keen interest parents took in developing their children in the area of ICT. The old man emphatically that ICT will in no effect affect the development of his child but rather it has this negative touch which in the long term will corrupt the minds of the child. We took hours to convince this old man about the benefits of ICT to the children.
The chances of these less privileged ones in the area of Information Technology is very slim that is why we thought of having this event to help create the awareness of negativity attached to ICT. Again, moving forward, we would like to use this medium to solicit for funds to help the children on Huhunnya by building a computer Lab for them.
3. PROGRAM DETAILS
According to ICT adviser Harriet Price it is no longer simply a case of thinking in terms of the benefits that an ICT-rich educational experience brings to children. She insists that technology is now such an important part of children’s everyday lives that a learning environment without it would be completely out of touch with their own realities.
PerVita Foundation over the years has researched on ICT in the growing child and our research concluded that, ICT is a fantastic motivator and enabler, but it is necessary to choose only the technology that will enhance learning and not to simply use it for the child’s own sake. ‘Children are fascinated by pressing buttons and making things work. Using appropriate technology provides opportunities to develop independent learning skills.’
Huhunnya is a small village found in the eastern Region. It is 20 kilometers from Boti Falls. The people of the community are mostly farmers and most of the parents have not had proper education. The little village has a population of about 500 people as residents. It is a town that fell on the heart of the group and a team from Dream Hunt (our affiliate charity partner) had the town researched. Issues found out from the town reveal that
- There is high level of teenage pregnancy in the village
- Information Technology is not something that is a part of their practical life.
- Water and Sanitation is also a major issue facing the community.
The team decided to move there and have all these issues addressed. Dream Hunt too the Water and Sanitation session whiles the ICT was powered in collaboration with Soronko Solutions.
We were very happy to be there because for a fact, a number of these young ones have not seen a computer before. An interview sessions with the children revealed that, they only have an imaginary idea of what the computer looks like but they have not practical touch of a computer. Again, with a different set of school children, they indicated that ones in a while their teacher brings in a computer to have some demonstrations for them. This means that, they do not have that full control over computer and technology.
However, the beautiful part of this event was that, the children were willing to learn. They were eager to take advantage of the session and get a feel of how best they can move with technology in this era.
The session has quizzes, mathematic questions, typing and other technological fun games.
4. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAM
At the end of the training program participant must
– Develop the attitude of acquiring knowledge through ICT
– Ensure effective use of technology in their growing life
– Be Encouraged to participate in competitions via technology (opportunities for youth)
– Eradicate negative perspective attached to technology and its development
5. RECOMMENDATION
The whole event was insightful but PerVita and Soronko were highlighting more on developing the children through ICT and technology.
We would recommend a computer Lab to help these children to be conversant with the computer, its usage and its benefits.
