By Burnett Munthali
Only two out of 23 secondary schools in Machinga district have computer laboratories.
District Director of Education, Youth and Sports Nellie Kamtedza has disclosed this, saying access to ICT education remains a huge challenge.
Kamtedza was speaking when Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) was launching an ICT Lab Construction at a newly constructed school in Machinga Likwenu Constituency.
This is under MACRA’s ‘Connect-A-School’ project through the Universal Service Fund which aims at increasing access to ICT in school across the country.
MACRA’s Spectrum Planning Manager, Derick Kondwani says through the project, 75 schools; including 73 CDSSs, one national government secondary school, and one pilot primary school benefit from the project.
Meanwhile, Machinga Likweni MP, Bright Msaka has applauded MACRA for the gesture while calling on contractors to deliver high quality works in such projects.
A recent study by MACRA and National Statistical office showed that about 6 million children in the country have no access to ICT.
Computer labs allow students to gain hands-on experience in computer science, particularly in areas like system and network administration . Additionally, computer labs are essential for colleges and universities to provide information technology training and enhance students’ IT skills .
ICT in education improves engagement and knowledge retention: When ICT is integrated into lessons, students become more engaged in their work. This is because technology provides different opportunities to make it more fun and enjoyable in terms of teaching the same things in different ways.
