App protects environment
Africa has been slow to use digital technology in the education cause
Hunched over her laptop, eyes locked on the screen, Marieme Seye listens to the step-by-step instructions given by her teacher.
The 18-year-old isn’t studying math or history, however. With 24 other Senegalese students,sheislearningtodevelop amobileapptoraiseawareness about the environment.
In small groups, the students develop apps focusing on environmental issues, in the format of their choice — such as a game, quiz or a platform to look up potentially unfamiliar terms, such as “endangered species”.
Seye has called her app “Weer Weelde”, which means “a healthy planet for a healthy life” in Wolof.
Users must choose which between four pictures — for example, a person drinking dirty water, another smoking, industrial fumes and people planting trees — to pick what represents the most positive contribution to the planet.
Choosing the correct image — in this case, tree planting — rewards the user with points, before all pictures appear with a caption explaining the dangers or benefits linked to the activities.
“I’m interested in developing a phone app because I use them all the time,” Seye said.
The three-day workshop, organized by the Goethe Institute and mJangale, a Senegalese after-school program,.
The Android apps will be made available on Google Play, where they can be downloaded for free.
Idriss Sall Diop, 18, just passed his baccalaureate. “This is totally new to me, I’ve never studied IT and just started using computers,” he admitted from his front-row seat.
“Young people are interested in social media but not necessarily in the environment,” he added. “I think these apps are a way around that - we’re always keen to learn about new things.”
Adja Aissatou Sy, communications manager at Senegal’s Ministry of Environment, said at the workshop that teenagers have limited awareness when it comes to environmental issues.
“Mobile apps are a good way to share information and broaden young people’s knowledge on this topic,” she explained.
The African continent has beenslowtoadoptdigitaltechnologies in education, according to Thierry Zomahoun, chairperson of the Next Einstein Forum, a conference to advance science innovation in Africa. The first conference was held in Dakar in March.
He believes more advanced equipment in schools — from computers to scientific laboratories — will broaden students’ horizon and better prepare them for the job market.
“We can’t just stand idle while there are more African engineers in the U.S. than there are on the African continent — we need to reverse that trend,” he said at the conference.