Parents also need some tech education

There’s a revolution on the horizon and it seems to be unavoidable – the face of education is changing and there’s no room for one to be left behind, especially parents.

I’ve been on a hunt for a primary school for my two-year-old son. You know, the Ivy League kind of school.

On websites, I see children with beaming faces, iPad in hand and classrooms on a tech level I just cannot relate to. Gone are the days of blackboards and the very basic overhead projector – this is the next-level education.

The days of learning are now filled with monkeynastix, robotics and coding.

My child will no longer have his day filled with the Drommedaris, the locust thorax and osmosis.

My child would be learning a cutting-edge, relevant and forward thinking curriculum – for him to continue to break the glass ceilings that hold our generation back.

I am in awe of the potential that exists for my child.

But I am anxious about my support of him: I am remedial when it comes to any technology.

The TV remote is as far as I go. So coding and robotics are the equivalent of quantum physics for me.

This begs the question: how many parents are actually prepared for this new kind of technology in education?

Honestly speaking, I do not actually know what coding and robotics are for, but my son must be spoiled for choice. My inability to digest the curriculum should not be a hindering factor for him.

How many mothers and fathers share my anxiety?

Perhaps, parents need to be educated as well.

The strides in the incorporation of technology into education is commendable. But as parents, we must ask ourselves: are we ready, are we prepared for this huge adjustment?

Parents are no longer in the age of feint and margin, but a click-click generation. But are we prepared to be the support system that our children require?

Can the education department please take parents along on the journey?

Kekeletso Nakeli-Dhliwayo.

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