Computer whizkid breaks barriers
THE nightmare for pupils with a rural background these days is dealing with college life that demands one to be computer literate as a pre-requisite for most learning activities like typing an assignment.
While their urban counterparts will be manoeuvring advanced essential graphic design software like Photoshop, Adobe Indesign, CorelDraw and Inkscape, pupils with rural academic background will be trying to figure out how “simple” Microsoft Word works.
But how does someone like Bongani Jubani, born and bred in the remote area of Zvegona in Zvishavane become computer literate when they have never used a computer, let alone switched on lights either at school or at home?
Few people can fathom how a poor 21-yearold rural boy who has never owned a cellphone until when he was at Advanced Level cope with the computerised atmosphere at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust).
Mostly pupils like Jubani are a victim of discouragement. Whenever they present their dreams, judging by their backgrounds, they are always told that they are building castles in the air.
On the other hand, a six-year-old at an up-market school in Bulawayo has access to a computer at school and at home. The boy has a tablet and a desktop in his own bedroom in the leafy suburb of Parklands.
In the past years information technology has undergone great progress, and that is why multimedia technologies have occupied a special place in today’s world. Electronic board, video spotlight and adaptive software all come under modern technologies which are to be used for educational purposes.
Many rural folks are pregnant with thick visions of becoming significant figures in life, but lack of exposure makes all their visions to become nothing but mere illusions.
It takes a strong visionary to put on different spectacles and become an owl that sees beyond an old thatched hut with a muddy floor.
It also takes an optimistic person like Jubani to see a ray of sunshine peeping through a dark village while his rural colleagues are moaning lack of access to computers.
This is how a poor rural boy who walked 26km to and from school every day, with no lunch box or pocket money but tattered books, has risen to be one of the best upcoming computer programmers at Nust.
Not that he was just a rural boy, but a boy whose father rejected at the age of two years. He was raised by her widowed mother who could not afford to send him for holiday even to the home town of Zvishavane, at least to have a feel of urban life.
Born and bred in the rural area, in his heart a pot of success was always boiling reminding him that his background is just a tissue paper covering him and does not define his destiny. Through determination and dedication he has defied all odds and climbed the ladder of success.
Jubani is now a third year Computer Science student at Nust. The rough diamond from the remote area is one of the best Computer Science students. Last semester, he bagged five distinctions out of the six courses he wrote.
In the comfort of his office at Nust, Jubani’s computer programming lecturer spoke proudly of him.
“Jubani is a good student, a hard worker and very passionate of his studies. You cannot tell that he only came to know a computer at A-level, his hunger to learn is an inspiration to people back home. I interact with him on a personal level. He told me his rural life experiences but one thing I noticed about him is that he manages everything, his background is not limiting him at all,” Mr Kernan Mzelikahle said.
Jubani shared his first encounter with computers when he got to Advanced Level.
In the computer laboratory at Dadaya High School, for some minutes Jubani tried to operate a computer by moving the mouse haphazardly. He frowned and moved the desktop closer to him as he tried to figure out how the computer functions.
After a couple of minutes and several failed attempts to operate the computer, Jubani sat clueless, watching the desktop as if waiting for a miracle to happen.
While Jubani struggled to operate his computer, the laboratory was full of keyboard noise as other pupils were busy typing their assignments. None of them including the teacher noticed that Jubani was having some challenges, perhaps, as A-level pupils they all assumed everyone can use a computer.
“With the assumption that every student is familiar with computers, my computer teacher had given us a ‘simple’ assignment of creating a word document using Microsoft Word. This was Greek to me. Straight from a rural school I had no idea
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