Today’s epistle is addressed to modern African youth, especially those lucky enough to

they have acquired some kind of knowledge in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools and unfortunately they are applying these tools for negative purposes.

First of all, you should take note of this profound Tanzanian proverb that says: “If you are taller than your father, it does not necessarily mean that you are smarter than him!” Another Ghanaian proverb warns us that “if your grandmother tells you a story, don’t tell her that you are going to find out from your mother if what the old woman said is true or false.” Alright!

wisdom

Once upon a time, there lived a self-proclaimed scholar named Prof. Kweku Ananse. Teacher. Kweku Ananse was so full of himself that he proclaimed himself the wisest man on the face of the earth. In fact, he liked to beat his chest to boast: “I am the wisest man on this planet of ignorance. I am even

wiser than the Creator who created the universe.”

Then, to keep his wisdom to himself, he went and bought a clay pot. Since he didn’t want to share his wisdom with anyone else, he put all his wisdom in the pot, closed it and sealed it with cement. Teacher. Kweku Ananse tied a rope around the pot and hung it around his own neck. With this strategy, Prof. Kweku Ananse was able to carry his pot of wisdom, hanging from his chest like an Olympic Games gold medal wherever he went. He never took the pot off his neck, not even when he was swimming in the river, let alone when he was in bed.

One day, the teacher Kweku Ananse went to his farm at dawn and said that it was not necessary to carry water. “After all, I’m not thirsty right now. Why should I carry water on my head so that little children will make fun of me?” he said he proudly. Then, around 12 noon, he found out from Prof. Kweku Ananse that he was dying of thirst. He decided to run home quickly to get some water to drink. On the way he saw a coconut tree and said: “What! I must cover a coconut to quench my thirst before continuing.”

Teacher. Kweku Ananse reasoned that if he put the pot down and went on top of

The coconut tree, the moment it descended, someone might have come to take away its vessel of wisdom. In fact, he tried to climb the coconut tree with his pot in front of him. When he tried to hit the coconut tree in the chest, his hands could not encircle the tree because of the pot between his chest and the coconut tree. For more than three hours, Professor Kweku Ananse fought and fought; he was sweating like a pregnant fish but he couldn’t climb the tree. Finally, he missed and collapsed to the ground. The pot was heavy and balanced on his chest as he lay on the ground.

I was panting. When he was about to die of thirst, a seven-year-old boy named Kojo Nyansah appeared on the scene. He was coming back from school. When she saw the old man groan and die under his pot of wisdom, she was filled with compassion for him. Kojo was taught at school to have compassion for people living with HIV/AIDS. Thus, he said to himself: “I too must have compassion on this poor man.” So, the boy rushed to the rescue of the “Professor”. Kojo Nyansah knelt next to Prof. Kweku Ananse and wanted to know what the problem was and if he could help. Professor Kweku Ananse suddenly widened his eyes and began to narrate his ordeal to the little boy. He lamented bitterly that he was dying of thirst and pleaded for help.

Wasting no time, Kojo Nyansah reached into his khaki pocket and pulled out a mobile phone. He quickly dialed a number “zero, zero, zero six times and one” (0000001). That was the number of the Creator of the universe. After a brief communication with the Creator, the boy again approached Prof. Kweku Ananse and politely said, “Sir, could he take the pot off his chest and put it on his back and try again?” Teacher. Kweku Ananse quickly jumped to his feet as if by magic. He didn’t argue at all. He behaved like a dying patient in the presence of a doctor. As soon as he did what the boy told him, he was able to climb the tree, covered the coconut, drank the water and survived.

When the prof. Kweku Ananse fully regained energy and power from him, he removed the pot from his neck for the first time since he hung it there. He looked at himself, looked at the pot of wisdom on the ground, and said, “Why do I, a teacher of wisdom, with my wisdom in my pot, have to receive instructions from a small child before I can survive?” He became furious and angry against the pot. He kicked the pot with his left leg, lifted it so high in the air and smashed it to the ground—”pkoaaa!” It was from that day on that no human being was allowed to claim a monopoly on wisdom, except the Creator of the universe.

I narrated this anecdote to demonstrate to the youth of Africa that it is not always true that

every old man or woman has more wisdom than a younger person. In other words, someone can be very young but be more psychically evolved, spiritually developed, technologically advanced, and wiser than an octogenarian with a white beard and gray hair.

ICT tools

As a layman, I will not pretend to go into any ICT technicalities. Therefore, for the purposes of this article, what I mean by ICT tools in this context is basically some of the equipment

or machines that are used in communication or in the dissemination of information or in the transmission of messages, throughout the world, if you like. For example, telephone, fax machine, radio, television, film/video, computer/Internet with particular reference to mobile phones, and the like.

Around October 2005, the Ghana Education Service authorities in Accra had reason to ban the use of mobile phones by students in the country’s primary and secondary institutions. Although some parents and guardians greeted that announcement with shock and dismay, many concerned people praised the directive for moving in the right direction. In fact, the Director General of the Ghana Education Service was praised for taking such a drastic but sensitive step. His goal was to address the growing technological indiscipline between students and pupils, which leads to a general drop in the level of education in the country. But, as to whether that ban is being carried out to the letter and the spirit in the schools in question is another matter. However, the directive was generally considered to be more popular with Ghanaians than elsewhere. Because?

One Saturday in November 2005, this writer attended a PTA meeting at Aquinas High School in Accra. In that meeting, the subject of indiscipline among students, truancy, not having a career in the classroom, some clumsy way of dressing, called “otofisher” or something like that, and above all, the use or misuse of mobile phones. in classrooms during class hours they were raised and discussed.

In fact, the deputy principal in charge of the administration of that school not only demonstrated but dramatized how some students came to school with all kinds of fancy mobile phones and used them to disturb and disrupt classes to the detriment of others. She recalled that ever since the Ghana Education Service directive banning mobile phone use in secondary schools, she has been seizing mobile phones from recalcitrant students on a daily basis.

The respectable Deputy Headmistress lamented that sometimes, when a teacher was very busy explaining a very difficult subject to the students, “hudgy” music suddenly emanated from some of the pockets of one or the other student, interrupting the serious teacher’s focus and diverting attention. of all. students to where the notorious sound of the mobile phone came from.

Sometimes, too, while a concerned teacher, who perhaps had not yet received his meager salary, tries his best to impart all his knowledge to his dear students, some students just delight in enjoying music on their mobile phones. . Sometimes, some students deliberately plugged their ears with headphones, and when a teacher asked them a question, they shyly looked at the teacher’s face like a “Sahara desert goat.” My dear young African brothers and sisters of the 21st century, this type of behavior or attitude is what I refer to as NEGATIVE APPLICATION OF

ICT TOOLS.

At the PTA meeting in question, when the Assistant Principal told parents that she had seized about three cell phones that same week and emphatically stated that she would never return them to their owners, the more than 300 members present at the meeting supported her action. . -tow. In fact, most parents and guardians encouraged her not to be afraid and to discipline any student who went against the rules and regulations of the school.

Tips

Keep in mind that everything in nature has its positive and negative sides. that’s how it is too

ICT Depending on how you use ICT tools, it can affect your life accordingly.

For example, if you visit any website, you can use the Internet to learn whatever you want.

know under the sun You can study e-math, e-technology, e-biology, e-chemistry, e-physics, e-journalism, e-law, e-engineering, e-agriculture, e-science, e-commerce, e-football. , e-music, e-boxing, e-writing, e-drama, e-health, e-life and e-death. In

In other words, you can learn everything from archeology to zoology online. All you need to do is apply any of the search engines like Google and put any theme you want

know about and you are there. This aspect of ICT allows you to be in what is called a “virtual university”.

But, if you go online just to use your knowledge to steal other people’s money by hacking into their credit cards as some youngsters are reportedly doing in some countries in Africa including Ghana, Nigeria and others, then it is not enough. Others may be doing the same on other continents. But Africans should not copy evil cultures. Again, if you go online just to browse pornographic sites, you are corrupting your own moral and ethical integrity and the effect it can have on you in the future can be devastating.

Around 1994, BBC Network Africa did a show about how young people in Cameroon used that country’s Internet cafes not to study anything good online, but to browse pornographic sites. The same thing happened in Ghana some time ago. So when you visit some internet cafes like Busy Internet in Accra, a notice is posted prohibiting people from browsing porn sites.

Today, the mobile phone has become a very important ICT tool that is helping anyone in their economic activity. In Ghana, for example, fishermen are taking mobile phones into the sea. While fishing, they can simultaneously communicate with their main anglers back home to alert them to the situation in the field. They also use mobile phones to check fish prices in various markets with their agents and customers before landing their catch. At least the fishermen in Apam and Moree, all in central Ghana, are making such profitable use of mobile phones. This is a positive and constructive application of an ICT tool.

But if you young people who are the future leaders are using mobile phones to cover your ears in the classroom or listening to music while your teacher is teaching you, then what kind of leaders will you be tomorrow? If one day you become president and teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers and other workers are on strike, campaigning for better conditions of service, will you cover your ears and have fun while your citizens are in the streets with banners? You can use mobile phones in an emergency situation like seven-year-old Kojo Nyansah did in the story. Therefore, be careful with the negative application of ICT tools.