Teaching open source in South Africa: Part I

Africa is the world's second-least developed continent--after Antarctica. If you look at a world map of computer science and open source contributions, you will be struck by the blank canvas that is Africa. We are quite isolated over here and don't really have the habit of open source participation. A few dedicated souls spend inordinate amounts of time in basements and campus computer labs adding their efforts to the open source community, but the distance that separates us from the developed world is one that is as much about technology and access to technology as it is about physical distance and finances.

There are other constraints in South Africa, in particular the parlous state of education in this country. After our first democratic elections in 1994, the government embarked on a program of education reform and made the decision to embrace the concept of outcomes-based education--a concept that enjoyed mixed success elsewhere, but was attractive to the government because it seemed to provide a way to level the playing field for millions of disadvantaged secondary education scholars. This program was begun in the almost complete absence of a competent teacher body available to put such a program into place.

The majority of South African teachers were poorly educated under the apartheid regime, and mathematics and sciences were grossly neglected in the so-called 'Homelands' where the majority of previously disadvantaged pupils were educated. Consequently, the government's ambitious plan merely resulted in educational delivery and standards falling to the lowest common denominator. No real improvement was achieved....