Indian firm donates computers to Ghana teacher who taught MS-Word on blackboard

Betenase, Ghana: Richard Appiah Akoto, a computer teacher at the Betenase M-A Junior High School in Ghana, has been gifted five computers by NIIT Ghana– a subsidiary of the Indian firm, after the hard-working teacher’s teaching techniques went viral on the internet. The lack of proper equipment in the school did not stop Akoto, who goes with an FB username Owura Kwadwo Hottish, from teaching students Microsoft Word. The photographs of him explaining the software on the blackboard by drawing its interface were appreciated by many users.

NIIT-Ghana also decided to donate a laptop, and books to his school. “We saw the news getting viral on Facebook and other social media platforms. We were so touched by the teacher’s dedication to his students that we decided to support the school with the best we could do as an IT training organisation,” Ashish Kumar, the NIIT centre manager in Accra said while speaking to HT.

“We took a printout of the post, pasted it on our notice board and discussed the matter with our group CEO Kapil Gupta. He is the one who decided to sponsor five new desktops and books for the school and a new laptop for the teacher as a part of our social and corporate responsibility,” Kumar further added.

NIIT Ghana shared photographs and wrote, “This was after a picture of the teacher teaching MS Word on the blackboard went viral on social media. NIIT Ghana has donated new desktop computers and relevant textbooks to the school. The District Chief Executive for the area has promised to set up an ICT centre with the computers which will help the entire community. The school children are extremely happy with the opportunity they now have to learn ICT with real computers. The industrious teacher was presented with a laptop. The teacher will also benefit from a training package at Niit Kumasi.”

The dedicated teacher or his students have not received donations for the first time. Microsoft had earlier flown Akoto to Singapore to attend the annual Microsoft Educators Exchange training for free of cost. A few days ago, Amirah Alharthi, a PhD student in Leeds’ department of statistics, sent a laptop to the teacher.

“I always understand from the teachings of Islam that useful knowledge is crucial for the benefit of the self and humanity,” Amirah Alharthi told CNN. “Also, I am thinking of how much genius people the world has already lost because these people did not have the fair opportunities comparing to others and that makes me very sad,” Alharthi added.