• Education

Kopano online forum launched

Justicia Shipena





United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)-China Funds in Trust (CFIT), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, the University of Namibia (Unam) and the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust), launched Kopano Online Education Forum on 7 March at the Safari Court Hotel in Windhoek.

Kopano, meaning togetherness in Silozi, is a customised ICT resource aimed at providing learning materials, equipment and capacity development for educators, in efforts to bridge the education quality gap in Africa.

Phase one of the establishment of Kopano cost N$10 115 000, while phase two costs N$3 106 750. More than 3 800 educators in Namibia are registered on the virtual platform so far.

Apart from Namibia, the project will also be implemented in nine other African countries, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cote d’Ivoire, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zambia.



Kopano is a virtual community for Namibian educators and is freely available to all. It is a web-based system where interested educators are invited to register to get access, and then actively contribute to the national collaboration and conversation opportunities to enhance current teaching, learning and educational management practices.

Potential users of the platform need access to the internet and those without may participate in conversations using SMSes.

According to Yang Jun, chargé d'affaires at the Chinese embassy in Namibia, supporting the programme forms part of China’s commitment to helping to advance the education cause in Africa.

He added that one of the focus areas of the forum on China-Africa cooperation is capacity-building, as seen by the support towards Kopano, as well as other training and scholarship programmes to the African people.

“The objective is to establish a future knowledgeable community of educators and teachers,” he said.

Djaffar Moussa-Elkadhum, head of office and UNESCO representative to Namibia, said the focus of the project on Namibia is also to support the Harambee Prosperity Plan, which prioritises the strengthening of education institutions and enhancing technology.

“It is also linked to align with aspiration one of Africa’s Agenda 2063, which calls for well-educated and skilled citizens in science technology and innovation,” he said.

He said Namibia’s phase two will focus on three key components, which are improving linkages between teacher education programmes and classroom practices, enhancing technology for quality education, as well as strengthening policy and teacher management.

Moussa-Elkadhum added that policymakers and educators need to understand ICT’s role in delivering equitable and quality life-learning opportunities in education.

Education minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa said due to the vastness of the country, educators usually suffer in isolation when pursing studies at a distance. They also struggle to devise new ways of improving the quality teaching and learning.

Anicia Pieters, who is the dean of computing and informatics at Nust, said the quality of education cannot surpass the quality of teachers.

It was thus critical to find innovative solutions and practices to support Namibian teachers, in order to elevate the Namibian child academically and unleash their full potential to embrace innovation, as the future leaders of Namibia.

Pieters added that teachers working in isolation end up becoming frustrated, demotivated and leaving the teaching profession for other rewarding careers.

“The results of such frustration is felt when the students taught by such teachers enter higher education institutions. These students are in most cases not ready for university studies and this situation has serious implications for academic success. Hence, it is very critical for us to get involved in supporting teacher education, especially the continuous professional development of teachers in schools,” she added.



The Kopano Online Education Forum structure:

CPD unit - Kopano education forum

Unam

Nust

IUM

Regional offices

NIED

Namcol

NGOs/agencies