Solving an education dilemma
Today Information Technology is an important force that drives the economy and it should be part of all modern education curriculum. Without developing a technically skilled workforce, a country cannot compete. As robotics technology is disrupting most labor works, there will be high unemployment among countries that are depending on the low-cost manufacturing. By NOT offering this educational opportunity NOW, we are DENYING our current and future generation a good opportunity to meet the needs of the fourth industrial revolution.
One of the major issues in improving education system is the lack of qualified teachers in Information technology. This is a major dilemma to many education leaders because if they do not have enough qualified teachers, they cannot add this subject to the current curriculum. But if they do not add Information Technology to the current curriculum, the subject would never be taught.
However, this dilemma should NOT be excused for NOT doing the needed improvement. This is NOT an issue for the people in education but an issue of national concern. No ones can solve this problem alone but all sectors, public and private, must get involved. The private sectors, especially the technology sector should do more as they could help re-train many teachers in technology because it is for their benefits. By helping to improve the education now they will have the qualified technical workers to support growing their business. It is recommended for technology companies to get involved in improving the education system by allowing some of their senior technical workers to work with high school teachers and train them in computer technology. By doing this, they can expedite the re-training of current teachers so they can train more students in technical knowledge and prepare them for their career.
Although many universities already have Computer Science and Information Technology as major fields of study, some of their curricula are often many years old and may be obsolete. They need to quickly update or adopt a new curriculum to keep their training up to date with the industry needs. The best solution is to put in place comprehensive re-training programs for all teachers on new methods, and techniques so these school can have the same quality standard as schools in other developed countries . This is a major investment that required strong visionary leaders because even the teachers are willing to learn new things but they cannot do that at their own time and expenses, and without proper training, and support they will not be able to do their job as they wish.
I believe a large-scale teacher re-training program should be started as soon as possible. To expedite the process in the short term, the school should collaborate with the technology companies for the re-training of teachers by experts from the industry. By doing this, all students could benefit from a technical education starting from elementary to high school so they are prepared for their future career effectively.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
