|
|
|
Since 2013, FAIR has partnered with Mzuzu University to bring computers to secondary schools in Northern Malawi. The collaboration is mainly with the Computer Science Institute at the university, and this has given birth to the new CSO tMinds (Tech Minds), which is a society of students, teachers and alike who are all mainly from the Computer Science department.
In the beginning phases tMinds will undertake two large focus areas:
Computer Studies is quite a new subject in Malawi's secondary school curriculum and best practices for teaching this subject have not been shared among local educators. Furthermore, a number of schools have recently acquired computers through external donors, but many of such schools lack teachers with specialised training to teach CS. In March, 2017, two members from tMinds visited all centres and they met Headteachers from these schools. All headteachers lamented the acute shortage of the teachers to teach and mentor the students to fully utilise the computers which were donated. They have also expressed the wish for tMinds to advocate for qualified personnel to alleviate this issue and unleash the full potential of Computer Science in the secondary classrooms.
