BLANTYRE–(MaraviPost)—The Ministry of Education in Malawi has been tipped to embrace digital learning system in order to make teaching and  learning of science subjects successful and interesting for students and teachers.

In Malawi, many students shun Mathematics saying it is mind-boggling subject.

But Leroy Nyalugwe, Bachelor of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) student at Mzuzu University, is optimistic that use of ICT is the way to go if Malawi is to register success in implementing the revised secondary school curriculum which has put much emphasis on science subjects.  

Presenting at the African Conference on Information Systems and Technology (ACIST), under the title “Demystifying Teaching of STEM Subjects in Malawi Secondary Schools,” Nyalugwe emphasized on the need to embrace an electronic based approach to teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects in secondary schools in Malawi, with community day secondary schools as principal targets.

“Use of electronic modules will help Malawi, as a nation, to continue with undisrupted provisions towards the right to education for the secondary school students, even in the presence of pandemics like COVID 19. In addition,  STEM subjects and topics, which are often regarded as being difficult, and hence not well taught in a number of secondary schools in Malawi even though the curricula rate them as compulsory, needed a demystifying,  leaner-friendly, repeatable approach to their teaching,” he expounded.

Nyalugwe has Mathematics electronic module for the Malawi Secondary School revised curriculum to his credit. The modules are made in MP4 format which are more compatible with portable electronic gadgets like tablets, phablets, laptops etc.

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology (ACIST) is an annual event that brings together researchers, academicians, industry experts and technologists producing knowledge on the relationship between digitization and the key issues in Africa trade and development.

Malawi University of Science and Technology was the host of this year’s event under the ttheme “Digital Innovation for Africa Free Trade & Development“.

The 2021 (7th) edition of ACIST focuses on digital innovation challenges and opportunities for Africa free trade and development.

It is hoped that researchers in Africa and elsewhere will think creatively, broadly, and provocatively about the theme of Digital Innovation for Africa Free Trade & Development from many different theoretical, philosophical, policy and practical perspectives. 

According to ACIST, digital innovation is shaping, to various degrees, all human activities around the world. For some activities which include significant volumes of information exchange, the degrees of digital innovation are very high. This is because digital innovation enables better, faster and cheaper transactions, operations, and decisions.

In Africa, it is positively influencing new ways of trade and development across the continent. With the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) leading to the beginning of trading in January 2021, we envision digital innovation to have a greater positive influence on Africa.

“However, this influence cannot be taken for granted because driving digital innovation is hard work. Positively influencing trade and development requires significant research to produce knowledge on the relationship between digitization and the key issues in Africa trade and development,” statement by the organizers reads in part.

Efforts to know how these researchers will be assisted to have their solutions implemented proved futile as one of the organizers of the 7^th ACIST, Dr. Bennett Kankuzi, did not respond to a questionnaire.

Malawi has recently registered a significant progress in the field of technology and there has been a boom of innovations during the Covid-19 epidemic period.

Efforts to know how these researchers will be assisted to have their solutions implemented proved futile as one of the organizers of the 7^th ACIST, Dr. Bennett Kankuzi, did not respond to a questionnaire.

 The Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) through its Institute of Industrial Research and Innovation (MIIRI) on April 16, 2021, has also taken a step further by introducing Community Innovation Programme where local innovators who have no access to institutions of higher learning are being are mentored by experts.