Digital literacy

Digital literacy: The key to transforming education in South Africa: Image: Supplied

Digital literacy: The key to transforming education in South Africa

Quality education and digital learning are fast becoming one and the same thing. Learners of all ages need to have basic digital literacy

Digital literacy

Digital literacy: The key to transforming education in South Africa: Image: Supplied

In a report recently released by The World Bank, it was revealed that COVID-19 has had a ‘hidden but massive’ impact on children’s lives around the world. The report found that a combination of school closures and ineffective remote learning has caused students to miss out on huge swathes of education. With preschool-age children in multiple countries losing more than 34 percent of learning in early language and literacy, the global pandemic has meant that the educational development of millions of children has been stunted.

With learners being anywhere from 75% to a full school year behind and around 500,000 students dropping out of school during the global pandemic, this education crisis is at a crossroads. 

In my role as High Commissioner of South Africa to the United Kingdom, I worked in collaboration with the British government to find effective solutions to this ongoing problem. Unsurprisingly, working to address the issue revealed a common theme: the importance of digital literacy. 

Digital literacy a fundamental of quality education

Quality education and digital learning are not just closely connected, they are becoming increasingly one and the same thing. Learners of all ages will continue to underperform if they lack a basic understanding of digital platforms and the skills necessary to interact with them easily and intuitively. 

Technology can help catalyse education systems, improve job opportunities, and provide better quality education on a more efficient cost base. The children of today will enter a world where digital literacy is not optional, but a vital component of the jobs of tomorrow. 

According to a non-partisan pan-African survey, only 36% of South Africans own a smartphone and a computer. What is more, it is reported that most schools in the region have no internet connection for the purpose of teaching and learning.

UNESCO has noted that one of the main impediments to digital literacy amongst the young is a deficiency in expertise amongst teachers and trainers, particularly when it comes to knowledge of ICT infrastructure. It is imperative that governments around the world partner with businesses, NGOs, international organisations, the private sector, and foundations to deliver these solutions effectively and efficiently. 

In South Africa, improving digital literacy requires the provision of good quality and affordable internet, as well as the provision of digital skills forming part of one of the core elements of the educational curriculum. 

South Africa’s active partners in the digital literacy movement

The UK has been a long-standing and much valued partner of South Africa and other African countries in helping to deliver these solutions, and I am proud to work with a number of not-for-profit foundations here in the UK which are committed to the shared vision. 

One of these organisations is the Nick Maughan Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation established to further a range of philanthropic initiatives in education, the environment and civic support schemes for disenfranchised communities. Founded by the British investor and philanthropist Nick Maughan, the organisation is keenly committed to providing children with the best educational start in life. 

The Foundation also supports human focused African charities including educational charity Christel House in South Africa and Harpenden Spotlight on Africa, through which it funds schools in Eastern Uganda. The construction of the NMF Riverside School in Namatala (one of the poorest regions in Uganda), which will include a state-of-the art computer lab. This new secondary school will be able to provide over 1250 vulnerable pupils who have fled from conflict and civil unrest in Northern Uganda and South Sudan with essential skills and learning – including essential digital skills

Conclusion

Of course, education is a priority for the South African government and measures are being put in place to address challenges. Generous donations and partnerships such as these are what Africa needs to improve its provision of digital literacy and harness the opportunities offered by improving the education levels of its young. 

There is only so much that governments can do alone, which is why we must continue to identify and work with important partners to deliver much needed solutions to the education problems of today to empower the generations of tomorrow. 

By H.E. Nomatemba Tambo. H.E. Nomatemba Tambo is the Former High Commissioner of South Africa to the UK and Advisory Board Member, Nick Maughan Foundation 

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