Education provides individuals with basic skills to participate as active citizens in society and to develop capabilities to contribute to their and the community’s economic well being. For most, through time, individuals have progressed through the system in a lock step, age-defined cohort from preschool through, at least post secondary and, today, some post secondary certification. This has been the general model, globally. The increasing ubiquity of the cell phone and, now, the Internet is increasingly making us aware at the local and global level that the world of education has been a linear progression only for convenience and that in reality it’s a complex adaptive system. One of the first and major issues is that humans, particularly learners, are not homogeneous, like parts on a production line. With advancing computer systems, it is possible and imperative to allow individuals to advance in all areas at a pace that matches their capabilities. This calls for a major change in how educational programs are provided. The crucial complement is that, as one has said, it takes a village to raise a child. Rwanda with its decentralized decision-making is in a perfect place to respond as electronic access is expanded to all. As, in the developed countries, more citizens are demanding the ability to actually influence and participate in the education of their students rather than sending students into a system where there is little voice. Of equal or greater importance is that Rwanda, which depends on external funding, particularly for education, needs to exercise its voice even when it may come in conflict with “accepted” practices promoted by funding agencies. One major international financial authority, in an official blog said: “Let’s face it – school grants are a big part of what we do in our education projects, so it’s crucial to wield them in ways that can eventually produce the results we seek.” Most funders are still in what is called a single loop mode—find the key point of intervention, fund it, modify and then increase funding. As we have seen with the recent introduction of 4G LTE, Rwanda knows what it wants and is no stranger to swimming against conventional wisdom—so it should be with its most important infrastructure, education. Post secondary education is expensive. As primary and secondary schools shift to models of competency instead of measures of accomplishments based on “seat time” or hours in class, skills will improve in both abilities to become engaged in the civic process and to contribute meaningfully to the individuals and the larger communities’ economic wellbeing. It should be noted that, as before, education is a complex, non-linear system that says there is no one defined path that fits all from birth to graduation and active participation. This means that the prescriptive educational models promulgated in university education programs need serious addressing, including cross-disciplinary knowledge from all narrow academic disciplines. Remember, at one time “academics” were versed in many subjects. It calls for a serious rethinking of how faculty and, hence, curricula are designed. Rwanda, with its merging of the post-secondary campuses, is at such a point, driven by its core infrastructure, education, where such changes can be made. The video, “Success in the New Economy” (https://vimeo.com/67277269) cogently points out that the needs of citizens can be defined by the ratio: 1:2:7. Thus, we will require one person with an advanced degree such as a doctorate or masters, two with a bachelor’s and seven persons with advanced certificates or recognized practice. This fits well with the several African standing committees that are now favoring the sharing across countries and institutions research and teaching. It follows the growing number of globally active public and private institutions increasingly offering innovative and credible post secondary programs. This does not preclude each country seeking a strong post-secondary institution, probably distributed across the country. But it points out that the cost and benefit measures must be tested across the needs and fiscal resources of a country in a world of intellectual and knowledge abundance released by the Internet. Additionally, England has been aggressively leading the way by putting university students into the classrooms to observe and work with faculty to improve learning in courses. This parallels the idea of community involvement in primary and secondary schools. It points out that a country and its citizens need to be actively involved in husbanding scarce resources when managing its critical infrastructure, education. The writer is a partner in Karibu Agritech Ltd that develops value-added agriculture crops and tilapia.
