Microsoft offers to help Ghana man teaching computing on a chalkboard

Ghana teacher Richard Appiah Akoto uses a chalkboard in his ICT lesson. Photos / Facebook

A Ghanaian teacher's resourceful use of a chalkboard to teach students with no access to a computer about information and communication technology has caught the attention of Microsoft - who have offered to help his class.

Richard Appiah Akoto drew a detailed diagram of the Microsoft Word processor for the lesson at his rural school in the Ashanti Region of south Ghana.

The 33-year-old's students are seen copying the diagram into their notebooks in the post, which has been widely shared online, according to the Telegraph UK.

"Teaching of ICT in Ghana's school is very funny," joked Akoto, known by his nickname Owura Kwadwo Hottish on Facebook, in a post.

This picture has been circulating on web. Does anyone know what country? This teacher is my hero. I want to find him. #TeachingIsAVocation pic.twitter.com/k7d0ysKrDj

— Rebecca Enonchong (@africatechie) February 25, 2018

"I love [my] students so have to do [what] will make them understand [what I] am teaching."

Quartz Africa reports the school have had no computers since 2011, despite ICT being part of the school curriculum and students having to pass an exam on the subject to progress to high school.

Rebecca Enonchong, a tech entrepreneur from Cameroon, shared the image with Microsoft Africa on Twitter asking if they could give computers to the class.

"Hey @MicrosoftAfrica, he's teaching MS Word on a blackboard. Surely you can get him some proper resources," she tweeted.

Microsoft Africa responded by promising to provide a computer to the teacher and access to free professional development resources.

Supporting teachers to enable digital transformation in education is at the core of what we do. We will equip Owura Kwadwo with a device from one of our partners, and access to our MCE program & free professional development resources on https://t.co/dJ6loRUOdg

— Microsoft Africa (@MicrosoftAfrica) February 27, 2018

"Supporting teachers to enable digital transformation in education is at the core of what we do," responded the tech giant.

A 2015 study into the implementation of ICT learning in Ghanaian secondary schools found disparities in technology use among urban and rural school students.

The report, published in the journal Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, found there was a "digital divide" in Ghana and called for government and school administrators to provide better technology resources for students.