President-elect Porfirio Lobo will present his Plan of the Nation to Congress in January. The plan will include a series of short- and long-term programs that Mr. Lobo believes are needed to develop Honduras and heal divisions in the country following this year's political crisis. One of Mr. Lobo's first acts after his inauguration on January 27, 2010 will be to deliver computers to school children. Ensuring that every student in Honduras has a computer is one of the cornerstones of Mr. Lobo's vision for education. Mr. Lobo aims to deliver some 250,000 computers to Honduran schools during each of his four years in office. He has sought support for his program from the World Bank (WB) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Mr. Lobo also plans to implement a program to teach English to every Honduran student.
Deposed president Manuel Zelaya also promised to provide thousands of computers to school children in Honduras. During a visit to Taiwan early in his administration, Mr. Zelaya obtained a promise from that country's government to donate 30,000 computers. It remains unclear whether there was any follow-up and the computers were ever received and delivered. (12/26/09) (photo courtesy Internet)
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I think computer literacy and using computers as a tool can be vital to learning, but even more essential are engaging, inspiring teachers who love to teach and get paid regularly, as well as excellent textbooks and vibrant literature. Without a good foundation in the basics this program is bound to be added to the heap of well-intentioned but poorly executed programs. It's a big heap.
Giving students calculators doesn't improve their understanding of mathematics, it only allows them to do more without understanding what they are actually doing. Giving them computers without having a real plan regarding their implementation in the curriculum isn't likely to result in any significant improvement in their general level of education.
Regarding English instruction; English has been taught in most Honduran High Schools for several years now (since Maduro introduced his 120 hour course). While it has been successful to the extent that many young Hondurans can now recognize a lot more English words from the lists they were required to memorize, the course was designed so that it could be taught by teachers who could not speak English and has therefor not produced any significant additional English language "communicators".
Everyone seems so busy talking about needing to learn to use a computer and learn English, but no-one seems to be addressing the reasons we want our children to learn these skills. The reasons for the learning and the desired product we want from our education system are the questions that really need to be answered.