“Typing compulsory for IT penetration”
Jonah Iboma
For Nigerian youths to possess required skills to utilize the Internet, an information technology expert has called for typing to be made compulsory in the country’s education curriculum.
Managing Partner of Telecoms Answer Associates, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, said the inability of Nigerians to youths to use the keyboard properly when using the computer was a major shortcoming he had identified in the country’s quest towards developing IT.
According to him several visits to cybercafes had exposed him to the acute lack of typing skill by youths and adults in the country, adding that this must be redressed.
He said, “In spite of the remarkable impact Nigerians made in the campaign on awareness of the internet in the last ten years, we apparently made the mistake of not specifying typing as a prerequisite for our youths’ formal education and from toddler ages. We talk of computer literacy without stressing to our governments that such literacy actually begins from ability to type proficiently on the keyboard. That is why we have ended up producing engineers, doctors and journalists who use one finger to pick their ways on keyboards.”
Omo-Ettu said the development of skills must form the next phase that the country must focus on in trying to develop the internet, adding that mothers must be in the forefront of this move.
“To gain access to the Internet, you need a computer, you need Internet bandwidth access and the skill to use the resources. The skill to use the resources needs to be developed, and this forms the next major area of importance for the entire nation. Nigerian children must be caught young and mothers are a ready vehicle for this process.”
Every child of school age must type proficiently when he/she attains 11 years of age, and we should make this happen by 2015.
“By that year 2015, no child of 12 years of age must be unable to type proficiently and thus able to surf the web – not by picking letters on the keyboard but by typing skillfully even if blindfolded. This is fundamentally important because if children grow up to see computing and its applications as part of their daily lives (just like the television, DVD player, mobile phones, and maybe iPods for some), and not as another piece of technological innovation, the nation can groom a new generation of youth who can favourably compete with their peers, globally.
He said mothers should be the ones
“I strongly suggest that mothers should take advantage of the Computer for All Initiative and invest in the future of their children. CANI is an initiative of the Federal Government
For Nigerian youths to possess required skills to utilize the Internet, an information technology expert has called for typing to be made compulsory in the country’s education curriculum.
Managing Partner of Telecoms Answer Associates, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, said the inability of Nigerians to youths to use the keyboard properly when using the computer was a major shortcoming he had identified in the country’s quest towards developing IT.
According to him several visits to cybercafes had exposed him to the acute lack of typing skill by youths and adults in the country, adding that this must be redressed.
He said, “In spite of the remarkable impact Nigerians made in the campaign on awareness of the internet in the last ten years, we apparently made the mistake of not specifying typing as a prerequisite for our youths’ formal education and from toddler ages. We talk of computer literacy without stressing to our governments that such literacy actually begins from ability to type proficiently on the keyboard. That is why we have ended up producing engineers, doctors and journalists who use one finger to pick their ways on keyboards.”
Omo-Ettu said the development of skills must form the next phase that the country must focus on in trying to develop the internet, adding that mothers must be in the forefront of this move.
“To gain access to the Internet, you need a computer, you need Internet bandwidth access and the skill to use the resources. The skill to use the resources needs to be developed, and this forms the next major area of importance for the entire nation. Nigerian children must be caught young and mothers are a ready vehicle for this process.”
Every child of school age must type proficiently when he/she attains 11 years of age, and we should make this happen by 2015.
“By that year 2015, no child of 12 years of age must be unable to type proficiently and thus able to surf the web – not by picking letters on the keyboard but by typing skillfully even if blindfolded. This is fundamentally important because if children grow up to see computing and its applications as part of their daily lives (just like the television, DVD player, mobile phones, and maybe iPods for some), and not as another piece of technological innovation, the nation can groom a new generation of youth who can favourably compete with their peers, globally.
He said mothers should be the ones
“I strongly suggest that mothers should take advantage of the Computer for All Initiative and invest in the future of their children. CANI is an initiative of the Federal Government
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