Barriers affecting the integration of ICT in South African schools

The government is always looking for ways to improve the level of education in our country. This is a good thing as "education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world" and it is the key to success. So we can use Information and Communication Technology (ICT), as it is an umbrella term used for any communication device and applications such as computers, television and cell phones. By so doing we will be making sure that we improve education through the use of technology as it is taking over the world.  

As we focus on implementing the use of ICT in our schools  we must also be aware of the barriers to ICT integration as some of these barriers are intrinsic, meaning that the only way to eliminate them is to change our beliefs and attitudes towards ICT. But most of these barriers are from the environment that we live. This   includes the lack of resources, like not having enough computers for all the learners in a classroom. Lack of time as most periods are for studying using textbooks and the general knowledge of educators. There should also be support in every school for the integration of ICT and the teachers must have enough knowledge and skills for using technology.

By eliminating these barriers we will be making it easier for the learners to be more familiar with ICT as they will be having enough computer and teachers who are well trained. We also need to teach our children that the is more to the internet than social media and that we can use social media as a way of gaining more information from other people. This will even make education more fun and children can start to see learning as a way of living than viewing it as a job.

Let us make a difference in this world and the best way to do this is to make a difference in the education system. As they always say that, together we can do more.

My final year at Sobantu Senior Secondary School in Mpumalanga

My final school year at Sobantu Senior Secondary School in Mpumalanga

A final school year (matric) is the most important year in every learner’s life. It is a year where a learner cannot wait to complete school and excited about life after matric. I completed my matric in 2014 in a town called Ga-Phahla next to Siyabuswa. It is a very small town that has only 3 schools ( a primary, senior phase and senior secondary school). So there is not much to say about that place except that it was named after a certain man who used to own the biggest supermarket back in the days (1980’s).

In matric I had 7 subjects that is Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, Life Orientation, English, Afrikaans and my home language Isindebele. My favourite subject was Life Sciences because we learnt about things that we came across in our daily lives. Most of those things are the ones that we experience as humans like reproduction, evolution and many more. Unlike the things that we used to learn about in other subject like in Physical Sciences, were we used to deal with forces that some of us have not seen up to this day.

Most of the time we used laptops to download previous question papers from the internet. That did not favour every learner because most of us (learners) did not have laptops so the teachers used to print those documents and make a copy for each learner. We also used projectors for extra information and for our informal and formal experiments. That made thing easier for us and the teachers. So I can say that technology does play an important role in improving education in our country.