Communicating the Joys and Rewards of Science in Africa, Not!
by Liz Ng'ang'a

Are science teachers in Africa failing not only students but an entire continent? London-based Kenyan science writer Liz Ng'ang'a contrasts the spills of being rated zero as a science student with the thrills of an award-winning career in science communications.

by Liz Ng'ang'a

''Zero, zeeero, I am seeing nothing for you. It's nothing you are getting. Nothing only.''

I can still hear those words, intoned in the nasal drawl of Mrs. Patel, my form two chemistry teacher. I can still see myself walking to the front of the class, small and timid, to pick up my failed test. Mrs. Patel, her face a study in disgust, holds my paper aloft between thumb and index finger as if my wrong answers made it smell.

I dreaded her class and I dreaded everything to do with science. I felt nothing but joy when, in form three, we students were separated into two groups, ''the sciences'' and ''the arts.'' The underlying judgement, ''clever'' and ''not-so-clever'', were not lost on us, but we, the arts students, were too ecstatic to care. Finally, we were free. From Mrs Patel and the utter hell of science. I swore that aside from scraping a pass in biology and mathematics, which were mandatory subjects, I would never ever in my life go anywhere near the sciences.

Alas! How wrong I was. Twenty years later, despite having read Literature and Linguistics at degree level, a huge portion of my time and career is dedicated to science. It is almost too ironic for words that I should find myself on the frontlines of promoting the case for science as a communications and marketing consultant for research institutes and other science-based organisations.

What I find most incongruous though, is how the singular importance of science and technology for the future of Africa is often compromised, at best misunderstood and at worst ignored, by the continent's school systems. While often written off as ''the continent of despair'', Africa benefits from vast biodiversity, everything from deserts to tropical jungles to mountains to beaches, as well as abundant resources. Through strategic investment in science and technology, these gifts of nature could be translated into real benefits to help solve the continent's ever-present problems of war, poverty and disease. What, if not science and technology, will help us build the basic infrastructure, including information and communications systems, that we so desperately need? What, if not science and technology, will help us add value to our cornucopia of raw materials?

Putting science and technology first would allow Africans to think more creatively about development. At a ''Scientific Revival Day for Africa'' meeting a few years ago, scientists argued that the efforts being made by African countries to create wealth and foster industry would only succeed with proper utilization of science and technology. In the course of my work I have seen ample evidence of how true this is. I can bear witness to how communities in the coastal region of Kenya have managed to reclaim their land and livelihoods from the tsetse fly menace using simple scientific technologies. In the highlands, I have toured cabbage farms and listened to illiterate farmers talk about the complex science of biological pest control and explain how they have used this knowledge to triple their incomes. In the drought-stricken West Pokot region, I heard women recite poems about how the science of commercial insect farming is helping them overcome the dual disadvantages accorded them by geography and culture.

Given the great need for science in Africa then, it is unfortunate that continent's science students continue to perform so poorly. Even sadder is the fact that fewer and fewer students in Africa are enrolling in science courses. According to the chairman of the Kenya Science Teachers' Association, Mr John O'moragia, the problem lies within African school systems. According to O'moragia, the science curriculum in Kenya, for example, is too theoretical and too shallow. ''The topics taught under the current education systems are not student-driven. They are chosen arbitrarily with no regard to the environment of the children. For instance, if you teach children in the North East (an arid region of Kenya) about bananas they will have no idea what you are talking about. Little attention has been to teaching subjects in a way that makes immediate sense to the students.''

Another issue is lack of apparatus. ''Our schools are so poorly equipped that teachers often have to improvise. For instance, I might be teaching the kinetic theory and since the school can’t afford an atomic model for the demonstration, what do I do? I ask the students to brisk around a bit next to each other. Then I will pack my books and leave confident that this little exercise has illustrated several important concepts of the theory,'' says O'moragia. ''In the end, it basically comes to what I can teach easily, not what the children can easily understand.''

The fact that teachers are poorly paid doesn't help. It means that teaching is no longer a noble profession and those who end up as teachers usually do so for lack of choice. It also means that there are not enough teachers and the few available are overworked. O'moragia points out the dire classroom consequences. ''You end up with a host of problems. Teachers who go too slow or too fast. Teachers who do not prepare adequately. Teachers who are frustrated and take it on their students. All of this leads to negative attitudes towards science.''

Along with issues affecting day-to-day teaching, science also suffers from a PR problem in African schools. Overall, students are given the impression that science is a dry subject that is only for the super brilliant. This attitude creates a sort of default system in which students choose science for the prestige it confers rather than because of genuine interest. O’moragia puts the blame squarely on his fellow teachers. ''We push this false impression even further by encouraging the notion that a scientist is a serious person who does not laugh, who doesn’t enjoy life. It is as if we are saying, 'If you smile, the intelligence will escape.' Consequently, there is little interaction between science teachers and arts teachers. We do not encourage students to interact with their counterparts in the arts classes. We end up with a dull, unenthusiastic lot, yet by encouraging interaction we would create more interest in science. We could create synergies and excitement. Then science would not seem so boring and difficult.''

O'moragia also faults science teachers for not attempting to link what is taught in school with what happens outside the classroom, and he also criticizes their failure to keep abreast of the latest developments in science and technology. ''If I am teaching about light and using a pinhole camera to explain the concept, and one of my students brings me a digital camera that I don’t know how to operate, then the students will lose confidence in me. If I’m teaching about telephones I might use an old model to demonstrate, but I should be able to manipulate and explain the technologies of a mobile phone as well. Lots of teachers make a poor showing by not being up-to-date with modern technology. Students are left to wonder whether their teachers really understand what goes in the wider world.''

Such deficiencies mean that too many teachers are not making a convincing case for science. They are neither adequate role models, nor do they do the necessary ''outreach'' work that would lead students to careers in science. ''If we as teachers cannot create excitement about science, we cannot inspire our students to use science to make the innovations we need in Africa. We do not adequately show them what they can do with what they learn. A case in point: Why do we not have any locally manufactured toys in our shops?''

I could add my own list of questions: Why does Africa still export raw timber and coffee instead of processed goods? Why are we importing clothes when we grow the cotton they are manufactured with? Why are we only using imported products and not developing our own manufacturing capacity? Why was I rated zero in science, and yet recently won an award for science communications?

Above all, why is so much of Africa's potential undeveloped? Could it be that science teachers in Africa are performing poorly in communicating the vital importance of their subject, thereby failing not just their students, but the continent as a whole?