Innovative Africa: The new face of Africa by Mworia Wilfred Mutua & Alliy Mbwana

Author:Mworia, Wilfred Mutua & Alliy, Mbwana [Mworia, Wilfred Mutua]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Afrinnovator
Published: 2014-09-30T05:00:00+00:00

Most students emerging from most of our education systems have static knowledge – what they were taught by the teacher in class and what they were asked for in their examinations. To foster a culture of innovation, we need to produce students who don’t just receive and store information in their brains, but those who create new knowledge – dynamic knowledge - based on what they’ve learnt.

The Knowledge Triangle (depicted in the diagram above) shows the linkages between education, knowledge and innovation. Through education, relevant knowledge is acquired and then applied in innovative ways. Through innovation, new knowledge is created, which can then be passed on through education, creating new opportunities for innovation and so on. In other words, education is a critical component to innovation and the creation of a knowledge society and knowledge economy. (See the essay, “From Factor-Driven to Innovation-Driven Economies in Africa: A Framework for Development of Knowledge Economies”).

Educating for (or into) the Future Education has been identified as a key component to the rise of the African continent, and has been a key feature at many forums. In fact, ‘Universal Education’ is one of the UN Millennium Development Goals. Many a time, the discussion revolves around quantity – getting more students enrolled in schools. However, quality wise, an ill-fitting education for current and, more importantly,

future demands can be almost as bad as no education at all. But what is a quality education in today’s times?

In many countries on and off the African continent, educational reform has been a matter of great debate, with many countries embarking on initiatives to reform their education systems. Educational reform is a pretty tough nut to crack for basic reasons, chief amongst which, is dealing with the sheer scale of the system’s reach:

• National public education systems are standardized and applicable to the entire population. Where do you start the reform and how do you ensure it permeates through the entire system?

• You have thousands or hundreds of thousands of educators who have been using the status quo for years and decades, before you reach the student you have to deal with the educator in the first place. This could be even harder to do because unlike the students, the teachers are older and have been in the system longer, so a paradigm shift is harder to start and scale.

Based on a simple observation of the world in which we live and that which we will live in the near future, at least four elements should be considered in organizing a relevant system for education:

1. Creative Experimentation: The system needs to allow for creative experimentation where students are allowed to apply their creative abilities to existing knowledge to create new knowledge in a practical way.

2. Entrepreneurship focused: In the past, the standard progression for students was to go to school, get a degree and you’d be guaranteed a job. In the early years of many African states following their independence, there was a shortage of skilled labor especially for government agencies.

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