Information and communications technology(ICT) was introduced into the education system with the prime idea of teaching students to become computer literate because of how computerized the modernized world has become. This is to give students at least basic knowledge in computing to prepare them for job opportunities in the near future.
Though ICT was established for the greater good but it also came with some negativism just like almost everything in the world has a downside.
Negative impact of ICT on education
Let’s take a look at some of the major disadvantages post by ICT to the education system;
It is expensive; Any school that want quality ICT education has to go for quality ICT tools and quality ICT tools are very expensive. Imagine not even a whole school but a class of sixty students are to be taught in the computer lab of the school on a topic like “How to create and save a document with Microsoft word”. It means there must be sixty-one set of computers available, a projector and other materials for tuition. The money for the purchasing of these technological items has to come from the school which will by all means reflect on the students’ bill list and therefore suggests that, some part of the money has to come from students or their parents too.
Destructive and time wasting ; The word “Online” is very popular because of how frequent it is been used in ICT environments. Students usually go online to do research, chat family and friends or share ideas with their colleagues. There are millions of information in different forms online and some mostly destruct students whenever they are looking for information for a research. A student might type “How important is ICT” into a search engine like Google and amongst the results, he/she may find something like “How ICT can help you make money as a student”. He/she will forget what he typed for a second and try to follow the link and read about how to make money. The student is not only destructed but has also wasted time and it can happen to a teacher too. Class is sometimes destructed because a student may be playing video games or doing other stuff on his phone or tablet whilst a teacher is teaching.
Reduction of learning rate; Students use to go to tutors and also consult books to help them do their assignments. They also used to learn overnight to prepare them for the next class. It does not happen anymore because they just do ‘cut’ and ‘paste’ from the internet and does not necessarily learn what they are cutting and pasting. They can fetch information on the internet just before class and answer questions in class which will lure the tutor into thinking that they have really learnt before the class until they write a test or exams.
Requires on-the-job training; Tutors have to be trained again and again to stay relevant and be able to deliver well in the teaching of ICT because of the fast growing technology. Just think of this as the number of times you have updated apps ever since you started using smartphone, uncountable right? That is how fast technology is growing and tutors need to stay updated.
