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DIGITAL EDUCATION AND LEARNING

Critical Perspectives
of Educational
Technology in Africa
Design, Implementation,
and Evaluation
Bellarmine A. Ezumah
Digital Education and Learning

Series Editors
Michael Thomas
Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool, UK

John Palfrey
Phillips Academy
Andover, MA, USA

Mark Warschauer
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA, USA
Much has been written during the first decade of the new millennium
about the potential of digital technologies to produce a transforma-
tion of education. Digital technologies are portrayed as tools that will
enhance learner collaboration and motivation and develop new multi-
modal literacy skills. Accompanying this has been the move from under-
standing literacy on the cognitive level to an appreciation of the sociocul-
tural forces shaping learner development. Responding to these claims, the
Digital Education and Learning Series explores the pedagogical poten-
tial and realities of digital technologies in a wide range of disciplinary
contexts across the educational spectrum both in and outside of class.
Focusing on local and global perspectives, the series responds to the
shifting landscape of education, the way digital technologies are being
used in different educational and cultural contexts, and examines the
differences that lie behind the generalizations of the digital age. Incorpo-
rating cutting edge volumes with theoretical perspectives and case studies
(single authored and edited collections), the series provides an accessible
and valuable resource for academic researchers, teacher trainers, admin-
istrators and students interested in interdisciplinary studies of education
and new and emerging technologies.

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14952
 Bellarmine A. Ezumah

Critical Perspectives
of Educational
Technology in Africa
Design, Implementation, and Evaluation
Bellarmine A. Ezumah
Journalism and Mass Communication
Murray State University
Murray, KY, USA

Digital Education and Learning

ISBN 978-3-030-53727-2 ISBN 978-3-030-53728-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53728-9

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 Dedicated to my parents,
Late Emmanuel Alicho Ezuma
and
Ezinne Mrs. Martina Ngwanma Ezuma
Renowned teachers who first instilled in me the value of education.
 Foreword

This book strongly commits to a widely universal discourse on the critical

perspective of technology advancing the educational system in the conti-
nent of Africa. It provides insight into the role educational technology
had played and subsequently will play in the transformation of academic
curricula in the changing African educational systems. The advancement
in technology in Africa, which is the main focus of this book, has played
a tremendous role in bringing about monumental changes in academia
most importantly in its various institutional levels ranging from nursery,
primary, secondary, teacher training institutions, and most importantly
at the tertiary levels. Data have shown that in most of these institu-
tions, academic curricular, instructional materials, and the method of
course delivery have changed tremendously. Significance of these changes
in modalities was evident currently as COVID-19 pandemic presents
an unprecedented new normal resulting in the use of technology in
various instructional platforms. The reason for the possibility of these
changes was the advancement in technological innovations, which have
become a formidable channel through which information and educational
content delivery from the teachers was conveniently delivered to students
simultaneously.
Whereas the advent of the educational technology in Africa has tremen-
dously led to the opening of new normal and formidable frontiers in the
delivery of knowledge in a more timely and convenient manner, it has
as well contributed in the offering of new possibilities for the academic

vii
viii FOREWORD

community. Students can now elect to attend to lectures using various

technology platforms such as virtual orientation to learning at the conve-
nience of their respective homes through zoom and the opportunity to
submit and take tests and examinations through the same virtual plat-
form. The eight chapters of this book showcases the necessary and direct
impact educational technology has had as evident in the current unprece-
dented global pandemic that had already changed the norms from a
global vantage perspective. Beyond that, Ezumah posed some thought-
provoking questions such as “Why is Africa so bent on incorporating
universally, digital ICT in all schools even when such has proved attain-
able only to a small fraction of schools?” “Why is affinity to western-
ization the only measure of an effective pedagogy?” “How can elemen-
tary and/or secondary education function to prepare for the workforce,
the percentile of African youth who may not necessarily proceed to the
tertiary level?” While considering ICT for all, “Whose ICT for all?” And
most importantly, “Which ICT?”
Additionally, Ezumah presents a strong argument as to the critical
perspective of educational technology in Africa regarding the significant
impact the new technology is presently having across the world. But more
so, she has touched a rare area which is seeking to evaluate educational
technology transfers from the West to the developing nations. Such eval-
uation, she proffered, must include local peculiarities including culture,
language, societal needs, and congruity with teacher training modalities
and local pedagogical styles. The book also addresses the importance of
the impact of technology in Africa as it relates to the educational systems
and shows empirically with strong evidence on how such impact affects
the academic environment in the continent of Africa. The book equally
reviews critical and cultural perspective of educational technology transfer
and its theoretical framework, reviewing the challenges associated with
educational technology adoption in Africa, and calls for valid orientation,
teacher training, and pedagogies, which, of course, is required in the
introduction of such technologies. Ezumah has further addressed other
theoretical and ideological outcomes for such transfer such as cultural
imperialism and neocolonialism. To accentuate these theories, she has
presented case studies informed by her empirical studies of educational
technology deployment/initiatives and has formulated a model for effec-
tive planning and implementation of educational technology in various
African learning environment.
 FOREWORD ix

The significance of this book lies within the emergence of educational

technology as one of the most reliable inventions of our time. Technology,
therefore, has so far significantly influenced the educational system in the
developed democracy as the preparation of course content and delivery
has tremendously changed. Teacher and student interaction has taken a
different turn as learning has improved and more often individualized. In
most instances, students can obtain course content information through
an electronic means, and as well complete and submit homework and
projects through the same means. Today, in a rapidly changing African
educational environment, television and cable capabilities can deliver class
content to students in the comfort of their respective homes or the library
with or without the presence of the instructor (teacher). The significance
of this book also lies in its assumption that technology will play a consider-
able role in changing academic curricula in African educational systems as
it has done in the civilized Western democracies if properly and carefully
integrated and effectively utilized.
The empirical findings and a strong evidence of a model for effective
planning and implementation of educational technology in Africa (The
Ezumah Model presented in Chapter 7) go a long way to legitimize
the significance of this book. The integration of COVID-19 pandemic
outcomes and its unprecedented new normal, resulting in the changes
in instructions and content materials in Africa’s school systems, supports
the argument of this book that educational technology is imperative in
African school systems. By educational technology, Ezumah legitimizes
both digital and analog technologies as capable of serving education
needs, depending on the nature and financial capabilities of the commu-
nity in question. These strong arguments make this book a sure bet to be
read and used by students across Africa in various tertiary institutions and
students/scholars of communication technology across the boundaries of
the world. I strongly recommend this book with its fascinating examples
and critical research perspectives in exploring the new normal.

Professor Cosmas U. Nwokeafor, Ph.D.

Dean Graduate School
Center for Business and Graduate Studies
Bowie State University
Bowie, MD, USA
 Acknowledgments

I am profoundly grateful to God who has been the source and summit
of my life. I thank Dr. Barbara Hines—my mentor and friend, who
believed in me before she met me, and whose recommendation furthered
my chance to benefit from the prestigious Frederick Douglass Fellow-
ship at Howard University. I also thank the members of my disser-
tation committee—the etymology of this work—Dr. Carolyn Byerly,
Dr. Anju Chaudhary, Dr. Frederick Harper, Dr. Chuka Onwumechili, and
Dr. Kevin Clark, my external examiner.
I am deeply grateful to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and
the Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business at Murray State University
under the deanship of Dr. Tim Todd, for sponsoring my research trips.
I thank also, my brother and mentor, Prof. Dr. Gerry Muuka. To my
editors at Palgrave Macmillan, especially Linda Braus, I appreciate your
patience and guidance.
To my numerous friends and colleagues, I want you to know that I
cherish your friendships and support during the first phase of this work in
2009/2010 and your continued support in this later phase that turned it
into a book. In a special way, I acknowledge Fr. Charles Ebelebe, CSSp
for his support and editorial touches.
A special thanks to my local coordinators in Nigeria and Ghana who
paved the way prior to my arrival for field research. Among them are Tomi
Davies, Ahmed Dan-Hamidu, Ayo Kusamotu, Rev. Kingsley Dadebo, and
Maxwell Akornor. Most importantly, I thank my research participants the

xi
xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

students and staff of LEA Galadima and Kanda V schools in Nigeria and
Ghana, respectively, as well as the government officials and experts in the
fields of education and technology, and the OLPC staff, who provided me
with vital data that informed this work.
Finally, to my families, the Ezumas (my pride and my joy), and the
Daughters of Mary, Mother of Mercy Sisters, I will sum up my emotions
with, “I love you all!” I thank Rev. Mother Pauline Eboh, DMMM and
Council for granting me the permission to further my studies. I thank
my parents, my wonderful father, late Mazi Emmanuel Alicho Ezuma
and my beloved mother, Ezinne Martina Ngwanma Ezuma. Mama, you
are my rock! Thanks for your love and encouragement. To my siblings—
Julie (RIP), Nkechi, Vero, Nma (RIP), Chukwuma, Kelechi, and my in-
laws, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews especially, Ezinwannem,
Divine, Goodluck, and Amanda, whose love maintained my sanity during
the final preparations of this manuscript under COVID-19 pandemic,
thank you!
 Contents

1 Introduction and Background 1

2 An Overview of the African Education Systems 15

3 Critical and Cultural Perspectives of Educational

Technology Transfers and Theoretical Frameworks 49

4 Challenges of Educational Technology Adoption

in Africa 69

5 Teacher Training and Pedagogy in Africa 91

6 Case Studies of Educational Technologies Deployment

and Initiatives 109

7 Ezumah Model for Effective Planning

and Implementation of (Digital) Educational
Technology 163

8 Conclusion 179

Index 189

xiii
 List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Out-of-school rate by region and age group 2018

(Note Regions are sorted by the primary out-of-school
rate. Source UNESCO Institute for Statistics database) 30
Fig. 2.2 School resources and learning environment in Africa
(Source UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2016). School
Resources and learning environment in Africa) 32
Fig. 6.1 Picture of Samsung Digital Village in 2015 (launched)
and 2017 (two years later) (Source Dartey Media, Ghana
[https://darteymedia.com/] Used with permission) 116
Fig. 7.1 Ezumah model for planning and implementing new
educational technology in low-income communities 174

xv
 List of Tables

Table 2.1 Nigeria and Ghana Fact Sheet 38

Table 6.1 Summary of participants 128
Table 6.2 Brief description of interview participants 134
Table 6.3 Major educational needs/problems identified by students 141
Table 6.4 Major educational needs/problems identified by parents 142
Table 6.5 Major educational needs/problems identified by experts 143
Table 6.6 Students’ favorite activities with the XO laptop 148

xvii
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction and Background

The idea for this book began in 2009, some 10 years ago when I was
completing my graduate studies at Howard University. With a seven-year
experience as Utilization Coordinator and later, Director of Instruc-
tional Technology for Catholic elementary and high schools in New
York City (Brooklyn and Queens), I became aware, firsthand, the role
technology—both analog and digital—play in improving teaching and
learning. Therefore, it piqued my interest to review ways that educational
technology might be efficiently conceived, designed, implemented, and
evaluated especially for low-income and poor communities of the world.
The earliest version of this work was informed by an empirical study
integrating an extensive formative evaluation of the famous One Laptop
Per Child (OLPC) XO-tablet initiative of MIT and Nicholas Negro-
ponte. Later, I continued the quest by reviewing African homegrown
educational technologies to ascertain their success and how effective they
render teaching and learning in elementary and secondary education
sectors. One of such studies was conducted in Osun State of Nigeria
with the Opon Imo (Tablet of knowledge) which was a contrivance of
the then Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Odesoji Aregbesola.
This book presents several years of inquiry on the best practices and
most efficient ways to improve education among low-income commu-
nities and regions of the world through designing and implementing

© The Author(s) 2020 1

B. A. Ezumah, Critical Perspectives of Educational Technology
in Africa, Digital Education and Learning,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53728-9_1
2 B. A. EZUMAH

congruent educational technologies. The result indicates that certain chal-

lenges of Western-transferred educational technologies are present even
in homegrown technologies. The broader view of this work therefore
takes two perspectives; first, it defines what constitutes technology with
regards to education and seeks to debunk the assumption that educational
technology consists only of digital technologies. This work additionally
launches a campaign for a paradigm shift aimed at validating analog
technologies as equally capable of providing necessary and desired educa-
tional objectives and outcomes. Unbeknownst to many, books, pencils,
desks, etc., are technologies and for certain communities, obtaining them
would be a great achievement and improvement for learning. This line
of argument poses an alternative theoretical action-oriented framework
for designing and utilizing Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) dissimilar to the general ethos of digitizing the planet by a certain
timeframe.
Akin to the purpose of reframing and redefining the meaning of tech-
nology, this volume emphasizes the need for a participatory approach
incorporating stakeholders at all levels for an effective plan, design, imple-
mentation, and evaluation of educational technology especially of those
initiatives that are transferred from the Global North or Western coun-
tries to developing countries. This will involve among other things, a
consideration of cultural peculiarities.
While the focus is Africa, one of the major contributions of this book
is a model proposed via a flow chart (the Ezumah Model , presented
in Chapter 7) as a prototype that can be adapted and adopted as any
community deems applicable. While myriads of studies in the area of
educational technology reformation focus on cost, technical assistance,
environmental challenges such as power and need for sustenance as well
as teacher-training and curriculum, in addition to all these, this work
presents a critical-cultural lens that can inform all stakeholders—designers,
implementers, and users of the technology. Yes, critical cultural, because,
culture accentuates and solidifies a community, it is an inevitable fabric
in any community’s tapestry and so removing it renders the commu-
nity incomplete. Similarly, including culture in technology design renders
such technology specific to the said community. Moreover, education and
learning do not exist in a vacuum; they align with, and within every given
community alongside their cultural identities and proclivities—all these
play vital roles and should be considered in the decision making for any
chosen education delivery modality.
 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 3

Central to popular perception of global educational technology adop-

tion is a “leapfrog frenzy” that compels most low-income communities
of the world to jump into the bandwagon of digital technology or
ICT for all—toward preparing students all over the world for a digital
twenty-first century. In alignment with the old development theory, the
erroneous opinion asserts or at least suggests, by introducing computers
and other digital tablets to poor schools even those that cannot provide
notebooks and textbooks for their students, they will leapfrog into a
digitized community and such equates development. Borrowing Brock-
Utne’s (2000) famous title “Whose Education for All?” While considering
ICT for all, I pose similar question—“Whose ICT?” And most impor-
tantly, “Which ICT?” Are we promoting digital educational technology
for all or educational technology for all? Technology generally refers to
concepts, ideas, objects, or artifacts that can be employed in solving
a problem or improving a situation. Therefore, educational technology
is equally any of the above-mentioned ideas or artifacts that can be
employed to solving any challenge or problem associated with peda-
gogy or simply, put, improving teaching and learning. Perhaps a more
appropriate nomenclature might be the term “educational technology -
edutech” instead of digital ICT (as there is this embedded meaning in
ICT that refers to specifically digital). Conversely, with regard to edutech,
there is a broad spectrum of what is available and what should consti-
tute the technology in question. However, ICT narrows down the choice
and the “C” then becomes the operative word. A book is an education
technology—whether exercise book or textbook but it lacks the popular
opinion of “C” in communication or at least synchronous interaction as
we know it in the twenty-first century. So, the operant “C” then forces
policymakers, administrators, teachers, and parents to look beyond other
affordable and equally effective technologies to focus on technologies
with interactive communication capacity.
Technology is not synonymous with digital or computer-mediated
alone. Therefore, technology should be examined in a timeline of devel-
opment which requires looking at it from a continuum instead of
distinguishing it as standalone or a binary opposition of digital versus
analog. Both are not distinct per se; but share an inter-relational existence
in a continuum whereby one cannot exist without the prior existence or
later existence of the other. This symbiotic relationship demands a seam-
less developmental trajectory that moves along in sequence as guided by
the speed of available resources congruent to a particular region or milieu.
4 B. A. EZUMAH

Correspondingly, educational technology adoption and implementation

decisions should be guided by the availability of infrastructure and other
essential resources, and not by applying digital technological determinism,
a mindset that believes digital technology shapes society and if we engage
in digital technology, we automatically transition into a digital nation,
natives, and ultimately development.
Definitely, a sustainable digital education technology is preferred to
a backward analog alternative. But, if the leapfrogging that is needed
for a particular community is a textbook, an exercise book, a classroom,
pens, and pencils,—then those will very well be meaningful; as opposed
to leapfrogging to a full-blown digital tablet that in a few months or
years proves unsustainable. I understand this is not the popular narra-
tive as far as educational technology discourse in the twenty-first century
is concerned; this frame of mind requires a reorientation on the part of
local and international bodies for many reasons. First, studies have shown
that a good number of digital technological investments in developing
countries, Africa in particular, have met with alarming failure rates, and
there is rarely effective assessment of those projects. While each emergent
technology seems to displace and replace the previous ones promising a
more effective outcome, especially the technologies that are designed and
implemented in Western countries, that realization has been far-fetched.
With such attestations, multilateral institutions, institutions of learning,
ministers of education, and countries at large are vigorously investing in
educational technology in their quest to meet demands in the global
market. Such transplanting method does not necessarily work in low-
income communities due to several challenges. In light of all these, there
is an urgent need to evaluate educational programs in Africa because
technology when effectively designed and implemented can transform
Africa especially in education delivery which in turn can lead to social
and economic development.
But what is also often problematic is a practice I choose to call
the “Messianic-heroic compulsion” which propels technology innovators,
designers, and chief executive officers to select the remotest districts and
schools to deploy their device so as to yield the greatest possible effect
thus, manifesting a ground-breaking result that catapults a school located
in one of the remotest villages to be at par with schools in a Western
Metropolis. One such example is the OLPC project which targeted poor
schools who are unable to provide pens and pencils for all pupils. During
my fieldwork in 2009 at LEA Galadima School located in the inner city
 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 5

of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria and Kanda V

Primary School also located in inner-city Accra (the capital of Ghana),
several parents who wished to participate in the study had no transporta-
tion fare to come back to school a second time (after they have trekked
several kilometers to drop off their children in the morning) just to partic-
ipate in the research process while many of the students had no writing
materials. Most students equally did not have writing materials with which
to participate in the study. The transportation and writing materials were
included in the research expenses. The Galadima School had no power
supply but relied on the solar panel provided by OLPC which at the time
of my study was no longer functional. The XO laptop idea is a great
one that could have impacted schools in developing countries had OLPC
chose those particular schools with at least the basic necessities that could
provide a fertile ground for implementation. Granted the popular narra-
tive on African education are schools that lack basic educational needs, I
must highlight that every African country irrespective of their economy
and education system, have several schools albeit mostly private schools
that are at par with elementary and secondary schools in the Western
countries. There are various evidentiary proof that attest students from
these schools compete at the global arena and in many instances, have
surpassed schools in the western countries in the areas of science and
technology. There are also mid-range schools that are not top-notch but
can sustain projects like the XO laptop and similar initiatives. One can
understand the compassion and sentiment of propelling the rural schools
to rise to the level of mid-range and top-notch schools thus leveling the
playing field for all, but when such investment has no strong foundation
and source of sustenance, the initiative becomes an exercise in futility.
One other clarification I would like to proffer in this introductory
chapter pertains to the critical evaluation of preference to digital tech-
nology only. Despite the critical review in this book, about the call
for digital technology investment in all schools across the board, this
volume echoes several studies that support educational transformation in
digital age with mobile electronics and other emergent technologies. The
pervasiveness of mobile electronic devices in the twenty-first century has
permeated various facets of our society including teaching and learning.
Initially, educational technology was prevalent among developed soci-
eties but is more and more transcending low-income communities of
the developing world. For decades, numerous efforts have been made
to improve education quality in developing regions of the globe—efforts
6 B. A. EZUMAH

by multilateral organizations such as the UNESCO, as well as indi-

viduals, companies, and governmental agencies. Often, some of these
efforts overlook pertinent factors such as inclusion of local experts, provi-
sion of appropriate curriculum, meeting other needs of the targeted
population such adequate learning environment (classrooms), qualified
teachers, basic needs of food, pencils, textbooks and exercise books,
cultural practices, overall cost of technology and financial sustenance, and
many others. Such negligence rendered most of the educational tech-
nology projects unsustainable and in worse cases, unable to jumpstart the
deployment.
Criticisms of the processes involved in educational technology adop-
tion in low-income communities include:

• Mere dumping of hardware or software in schools and hoping it will

somehow work.
• Promoting technologies designed for a particular region as a
universal educational panacea.
• Failure to equip the technology with appropriate content.
• Failure to involve local experts in all stages of design, implementa-
tion, and adoption.
• Overlooking the necessity of teacher training efforts before adoption
and a continuous training afterwards.
• Overlooking other basic yet pertinent needs of the user popula-
tion; for instance, food, shelter, school supplies, textbooks, qualified
teachers, etc.
• Overlooking the overall cost and plan for financial sustenance.
• Failure to identify specific goal(s) for which the technology is
expected to serve.

In light of the above, this work adds to the volume of books on educa-
tional technology planning, designing, implementation, and evaluation
specific to the African continent. However, there is still paucity of mate-
rials that focus on elementary education and technologies designed by
the West and transferred to the Global South. Also, it addressed the
issue of innovation as a process of transferring ideologies and not just the
hardware and software technologies incorporating political and religious
colonialism with its by-product of cultural imperialism.
 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 7

Despite the frenzy of every African country jumping on the band-

wagon of incorporating ICT in education at all levels without the
exclusion of the rural regions who need the basic supplies of books,
pencils, pens, chalkboard and desks, and a sanitary environment, it has
not been established empirically that mere incorporation of technology
in schools correlates with improved education performance barring all
other variables. Another major topic that was addressed is the educational
policy or lack thereof in many African countries. Often, such decisions and
policies adopt a top-down approach as opposed to comprehensive involve-
ment of all stakeholders. Furthermore, this book addresses the notion
of presenting some educational technologies as panacea for all African
problems. Such mentality that these educational technologies especially
those transferred from Western countries promise something entirely
different and better evokes a nostalgia of colonialism. The best practice
would be to organically incorporate the new technology as comple-
mentary rather than replacing what has been. Also, this new frenzy of
considering educational goal as predominantly preparing our students
to compete in the global arena is often misconstrued and thus pushing
several African countries to adopt other nations’ ideas, strategies, systems,
and plans so as to effectively compete.
The confusion or misguidance may stem from semantics and the termi-
nologies used. Instead of fixating on “new” technology, the term “latest”
technology could be a better alternative. Latest is subjective and not
universal. It curbs that universality of new—latest for some may be digital
technology while for others, it is still analog.
Several questions persist, why is Africa so bent on incorporating univer-
sally, digital ICT in all schools even when such has proved attainable
only to a small fraction of schools? Why is affinity to westernization
the only measure of an effective pedagogy? Myriads of studies show
numerous challenges that impede effective ICT adoption and implemen-
tation of ICT in all schools. Instead of infusing such importance to a
solution that is inaccessible, why not re-strategize and find more effective
ways of improving education for low-income communities. Several studies
provide oppositional results; some attest to ICT as improving education
while others show results that are contrary—it all depends on which form
of ICT and other extenuating variables ranging from what constitutes the
expected contribution, to the method of implementation, teacher involve-
ment with design and curriculum, actual information in the said ICT
product and many more factors. Joyce-Gibbons et al.s’ (2018) study on
8 B. A. EZUMAH

the educational improvement through the use of mobile phones found

that it serves as a distraction rather than an effective tool; while Asongu
and Odhiambo’s (2019) study found otherwise. They assert, contrary to
the findings of Joyce-Gibbons et al. (2018), ICT improves education
quality in Sub-Saharan Africa and teachers should start considering its
relevance in both elementary and secondary school levels.
Perhaps another important contribution of this work is the incorpo-
ration of critical-cultural evaluation of educational technology in Sub-
Saharan Africa. Several works have reviewed educational technology
adoption in Africa from the economic, socio-economic, gender, cost,
teacher training, pedagogical style, technical requirements, and even the
economy of education. This particular work chose to review educational
technology design and adoption from a critical-cultural lens touching
upon the above-mentioned constructs but focusing on embedding the
African traditional education system, juxtaposing the African culture and
introducing the new technology only in a situation where these two major
identities of an African society has been fully considered. Another factor
that sets this work apart is that it focuses primarily on educational tech-
nology, design, implementation, and evaluation at the primary education
level as this level is crucial in setting the foundation and pace for every
child as he or she engages in other higher educational pursuits. Addition-
ally, this rudimentary level is similar to the Precolonial African Traditional
Education System and the focus of the pedagogy is more attuned to the
environment in question. Tertiary institutions on the other hand, create
spaces for more exploration in terms of preparing students to compete
in a global world. Situating and grounding every child in their culture at
the primary level provides that child with a solid background of who he
or she really is and equips the child with a unique experience that defines
the background, the pride, the understanding, and the framework upon
which every other forms of education can be built and could yield the
expected outcome.
Often, nation states and individual schools misinterpret global promul-
gations or suggestive policies such as Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), specifically the fourth one (SDG4) which focuses on quality
education, by ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and
promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all, the goals are relative and
ought to be interpreted differently and accordingly. In 2015 all United
Nations Member States adopted a 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Devel-
opment Goals. A 2019 review of the SDG goals indicates that Goal 4
 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 9

has been majorly under-achieved especially among the developing nations

especially in the areas of teacher training and access to quality education
and basic infrastructure (United Nations, 2019). For instance, the report
indicates “many developing countries still lack basic infrastructure and
facilities to provide effective learning environments. Sub-Saharan Africa
faces the biggest challenges: at the primary and lower secondary levels,
less than half of schools have access to electricity, the Internet, computers
and basic drinking water.” Also, “Globally, there has been little progress
in the percentage of primary school teachers who are trained: it has been
stagnating at about 85 per cent since 2015. The proportion is lowest in
sub-Saharan Africa (64 per cent).” And finally, “In 2015, an estimated
617 million children and adolescents of primary and lower secondary
school age worldwide – more than 50 per cent – were not achieving
minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics. Of these, about
two thirds were attending school but were not learning in the classroom,
or dropped out school.1 ” https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg4.
Even though this book is not proposing a precolonial system of
education in Africa in the twenty-first century, it however proposes a
re-evaluation of the major goals of education at the elementary and
secondary levels considering that many African youth do not extend their
formal education beyond this level. How then can elementary and/or
secondary education function to prepare the percentile of African youth
who may not necessarily proceed to secondary or tertiary institutions for
the society?
While the brunt of this work encompasses Sub-Saharan Africa, it is
not aimed to demonstrate a monolithic perspective. Africa no doubt is
a diverse continent; therefore, all suggestions in this book serves as a
template that can be adapted and adopted to fit each environment. This
work focuses mainly on those educational technologies that are designed
and transferred from the West to the Global South and reviews as cases,
the initiatives that are adopted or deployed to several African countries
for a comparative analysis. It also focuses on the initiatives that multilat-
eral organizations propose for educational improvement in regions where
the designers of the technology and non-natives. It will focus majorly
on the author’s research on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initia-
tive by Nicholas Negroponte of MIT, United States that is geared toward

1 Details of the 2019 UN Report are presented on Chapter 2.

10 B. A. EZUMAH

improving elementary education among low-income communities of the

world.
Several themes resound throughout the book:
Technology has always been an integral component of education—
from slate and chalk, to blackboard and books; and to electronic
machineries like computers and other handheld tablets. Each of these
developmental tools that aid education has specific ways that both
students and teachers could possibly enhance and harness their useful-
ness. Even the rudimentary slate and chalk had their challenges and
disadvantages—they lack archival quality thus, storage of work is one
of these challenges, as well as natural occurrences such as simple rain.
Yet teachers found a way and made it work for that generation. Not all
students were able to afford slate and chalk, especially chalk, yet learning
occurred.
Education in Africa is guided by several kernels that seem to apply
across the board despite the African diversity. The major constant
constructs are communal/community rather than individualistic; elder-
child dynamic or relationship in Africa is not on equal basis; and this is in
contrast to the constructionism pedagogy whereby children or students
lead the learning process. African education is goal-oriented but for
some of the educational technologies, their learning goals are not always
manifested but are more focused on experiential.
Western formal education was implemented in Africa simultaneously
with two major developments or reformations —colonialism and evange-
lism. The three constructs—western formal education, colonialism, and
evangelism thus became complementary and enmeshed in one another. In
some cases, it is difficult to decipher one from the rest. Thus, education
in Africa still retains some form of colonialism and religiosity attached
to it. The advent of formal western-based education in Africa happened
simultaneously with evangelism and so, many factors came to play such
as: obedience, acceptance of the teachings without questioning, training
masked with salvation (instead of for the good of the community), the
form of education that was in play then was condemned and vilified as
inadequate; same with African religion and Christianity or Islam—instead
of acknowledging what is available and building upon it; devising a new
way of achieving the old goals.
The need for teacher training is paramount to any successful educa-
tional technology. Also, Colonial education neglected of the needs of the
natives and its remnants resounds in current African education. Several
 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 11

studies geared toward improving educational technology implementation

in sub-Saharan Africa all emphasized the need for teacher training. This
research supports that every educational technology design and all subse-
quent processes including the implementation and evaluation ought to
involve the teachers and education administrators who design and teach
the curriculum. This participatory model should gear toward presenting
the technology in question and seeking the input of teachers and educa-
tion administrators on how this technology fits into their curricula. If it
does not, all involved need to device a means whereby the technology
should first of all, be amended to fit the environment. Then teachers
can use this already malleable technology and tweak their curriculum to
accommodate the technology. This compromise is necessary and should
happen within a space referred to elsewhere (Ezumah, 2019) as Third
Culture.
Numerous studies that examined technology projects in Africa
focused on non-school projects, but most of them are concerned
with non-educational dimensions, such as marketing, finance, health
care, social interaction, government policy, banking, technology divide,
etc. (Halewood & Kenny, 2008; Hartley, Treagust, & Ogunniyi,
2008; McKendrick, 1992; Moussa & Schware, 1992; Shresta, 2000;
Kinuthia, 2008) and not purely on institutionalized education. The few
studies conducted in and for schools focused on the secondary and
tertiary levels as well as on teacher professional development (Hartley
et al., 2008; Kinuthia & Dagada, 2008; Leach et al., 2004; Xuereb,
2006). Moreover, many of these studies are quantitative in their approach,
providing mainly statistical figures without much qualitative interpre-
tation. Such interpretation can lead to a deeper meaning other than
mere listed factors. In essence, there is a paucity of qualitative empir-
ical studies as well as formative evaluation on the planning, design, and
implementation phases of technological projects, especially in the elemen-
tary education of low-income students. The current study is different in
that it focuses on educational technology at the elementary and secondary
school levels.
The work is organized into eight chapters. This current chapter
presents the overview of the work stating the problem to be explored
which relates to the issue of numerous educational technological invest-
ments in developing countries, Africa in particular, and subsequent failure
rates as a result of many factors and the lack of effective assessment of
those projects. Although multilateral institutions, institutions of learning,
12 B. A. EZUMAH

ministers of education, and countries at large are vigorously investing

in educational technology in their quest to meet demands in the global
market, there is an urgency in evaluating those programs in Africa because
technology is transforming Africans’ style of life, especially education
delivery, both in teaching and learning. Chapter 2 provides an overview
of the African educational systems in precolonial, colonial, and post-
colonial times—a background that will accentuate the understanding
of the system in which the proposed technology will be implemented.
Chapter 3 focuses on one of the central arguments of the book by
extrapolating the cultural differences and presenting a critical cultural
approach to evaluating and choosing congruent technology for each
region or nation state in Africa. This chapter also covers the history
of technology transfer from the global North to South and several
theoretical frameworks that explain such phenomenon. Chapter 4 lists
and explains challenges that African countries have faced in their adop-
tion of educational technology and provides measures that have been
employed to ameliorate such challenges. Teacher training is central to
educational technology design, adoption, and implementation; therefore,
Chapter 5 reviews teacher training and pedagogy in African elementary
and secondary schools and policies therein. Chapter 6 presents sample
case studies of educational technology transfers from the global North
or Western countries to Sub-Saharan Africa—the three cases in question
are the One Laptop per Child, Intel Classmate, and Samsung Digital
Village. Chapter 7 introduces the Ezumah Model for Effective Plan-
ning and Implementation of Educational Technology—a framework that is
informed by the 2010 research on OLPC. The model pictograph depicts
a step-by-step process of what is expected to represent a joint effort of
educationists, budget analysts, teachers, parents, community leaders, and
technology experts. The ultimate overseer of the process is the education
department but the decision will be made with inputs derived from grass-
roots personnel such as parents, teachers, educationists, and in some cases,
students too. Once this is in place, it would serve as yardstick to measure
any proposed initiative whether local or foreign. The concluding chapter,
Chapter 8 provides some closing thoughts on the topic while highlighting
the major contributions of this volume and proffering a way forward for
a successful educational technology design, adoption and implementation
in Sub-Saharan Africa.
 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 13

References
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education in sub-Saharan Africa. Education and Information Technologies, 3,
1–17.
Brock-Utne, B. (2000). Whose education for all? Recolonization of the African
mind. New York: Falmer Press.
Ezumah, B. (2019). De-Westernizing African journalism curriculum through
globalization and hybridization. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator,
74(4), 452–467.
Halewood, N., & Kenny, C. (2008). Young people and ICTs in developing
countries. Information Technology for Development, 14(2), 171–177.
Hartley, M. S., Treagust, D. F., & Ogunniyi, M. B. (2008). The application
of a CAL strategy in science and mathematics for disadvantaged Grade 12
learners in South Africa. International Journal of Educational Development,
28(5), 596–611.
Joyce-Gibbons, A., Galloway, D., Mollel, A., Mgoma, S., Pima, M., & Deogra-
tias, E. (2018). Mobile phone use in two secondary schools in Tanzania.
Education and Information Technologies, 23(1), 73–92.
Kinuthia, W. (2008). Another spotlight on the continent: TechTrends in Africa.
TechTrends, 52(4), 21–23.
Kinuthia, W., & Dagada, R. (2008). E-learning incorporation: An exploratory
study of three South African higher education institutions. International
Journal on E-Learning, 7 (4), 623–639.
Leach, J., Patel, R., Peters, A., Power, T., Ahmed, A., & Makalima, S. (2004).
Deep impact: A study of the use of hand-held computers for teacher profes-
sional development in primary schools in the Global South. European Journal
of Teacher Education, 27 (1), 5–28.
McKendrick, D. (1992). Use and impact of information technology in Indone-
sian commercial banks. World Development, 20(12), 1753–1768.
Moussa, A., & Schware, R. (1992). Informatics in Africa: Lessons from World
Bank experience. World Development, 20(12), 1737–1752.
Shresta, G. (2000). The utilization of information and communications tech-
nology foe education in Africa. UNESCO—International Institute for Capacity
Building for Africa.
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https://doi.org/10.18356/55eb9109-en.
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Pedagogy and Education, 15(1), 31–45.
 CHAPTER 2

An Overview of the African Education Systems

A brief history of the education systems in Africa in precolonial, colo-

nial and postcolonial eras are presented in this chapter. It would go far
beyond the scope of this volume to represent all policies of every African
country and their education systems due to the diversity in the continent.
Therefore, the chapter focuses on representational policies. Given that
the original work for which this volume emanates was done in Nigeria
and Ghana, these two countries and their systems received more attention
than others.
Western formal education was implemented in Africa simultaneously
with two major developments or reformations—colonialism and evange-
lism. Therefore, three constructs—western formal education, colonialism,
and evangelism became complementary and enmeshed in one another. As
such, in some cases, it is difficult to decipher one from the others and this
created confusion and ripped these constructs of their uniqueness. This
history is pertinent in understanding current African education systems
for they still embody some colonial influences and these attributes are
more manifest in the choice of language of instruction at various levels
of education. Similarly, some religious practices influence African peda-
gogy; for instance, obedience reverence of authorities, and acceptance of
the teachings without questioning, memorization of materials and regur-
gitation during exams, are still predominant in many African schools.
Equally, the colonial training styles were masked with salvation instead

© The Author(s) 2020 15

B. A. Ezumah, Critical Perspectives of Educational Technology
in Africa, Digital Education and Learning,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53728-9_2
16 B. A. EZUMAH

of providing education geared towards the good of the community. In

essence, the Western missionaries preferred inculcating the basic tenets of
Christianity or Islam—rather than acknowledging what was available at
the time of their arrival, such as the African traditional religion and the
African education systems and building upon them, they instead villified
and condemned the system as inadequate.

African Education in Precolonial Time

Education, including formal education was already in existence in Africa
before the advent of the European Missionaries. Despite the missionaries’
attempts to vilify this education as archaic and mundane, scholars avow
this education system, especially at the elementary and secondary levels, as
more meaningful and effective than what was adopted during the colonial
period. Brock-Utne (2000) citing Scanlon (1964) explains:

[the] education of the African before the arrival of the European was an
education that prepared the young African for responsibilities as an adult
in the home, the village, and the tribe. Learning took place through doing
and practicing, imitating the grown-ups. By this process, simple instruction
was given and know-how transmitted. There were also more formal teach-
ings by the fire-place at night, when the older members of the family taught
the younger the history of the locality and developed abstract reasoning
through riddles. (p. 48)

And as mundane and simple as the educational system described above

may seem incongruent evaluating it from the twenty-first-century prism,
it was, however, amply sophisticated and most importantly, relevant for its
time and it served the local needs. Additionally, Scanlon (1964) countered
the criticism of simplistic attributed to precolonial education in Africa
and noted, in contrast, that there were complex educational systems in
Africa prior to European invasion or arrival. He referenced the rite of
Poro1 society of West Africa in the 1400s and 1700s which took several

1 Poro is often condemned by many as a male “secret Society” especially by Religious

Groups and others consider it Rites of Passage to adulthood. The intention of its discus-
sion in this book and particular in this chapter is purely as an example of structured and
formal educational training in Precolonial Africa. Its religious or ritualistic meaning could
certainly be up for debate for another volume or forum; and most certainly not the focus
of this book.
Another random document with
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 Here I pointed to two large lenses that, stripped of their paper, lay
on the stones. The agony of the customs-master was now complete.
He was afraid even to touch the various parcels. There they lay. He
wept.
Regardless of his entreaties, as he had been of those of various
Europeans whose bottled stout lay exploding in the sun, I smilingly
retired, telling him he would doubtless hear from the Governor.
He did. The Governor was furious; when the custom-house
master’s zeal touched him personally, he was really enraged; though
when we had appealed to him to get perishable things given up to
us, offering an indemnity, if it could be at any time proved that any
duty was due, he had told us he could do nothing.
The customs-master was heavily fined, and at any time during the
rest of my stay in Shiraz when I sent for my boxes, they were given
up at once, and when my servant, as directed, asked if it were
wished to examine them or not, the customs-master, pale with rage,
would reply:
“Go, son of a burnt father, no; I have opened his boxes once, I
never want to do so again.”
All this my man would gleefully narrate on triumphantly bringing
home my beer, or whatever had arrived.
I had had one other transaction with this customs-master. He had
a handsome colt rising three; I had long tried to buy it, but he would
never sell, or demanded a preposterous price. At last he sent over
one day to me saying, “What will you give me in cash for my grey
colt?”
I replied, “Ninety-five tomans” (about thirty-eight pounds). This is
really a very high price for a horse only rising three. To my
astonishment and delight the horse was sent over. I gave a cheque
for the money and tied my purchase up. The next day I was left in
peace to admire him; the third day came a letter politely written, the
pith of which was, “Return me my colt, I have repented.” I looked on
the affair as a joke, but no; the man had not cashed my cheque. Had
I paid him in specie the bargain would have been concluded; as it
was he was in the right, and I reluctantly gave back the horse I had
had my eye on for months.
It was the law, and by that one must abide.
A peculiarity of the Shirazi is his fondness for repeating words,
changing the initial of the second. Use is second nature, and a
curious instance of the habit is narrated of the late Kawam-u-Dowlet.
When in the presence of the Shah, the Kawam-u-Dowlet was asked
by his Majesty—
“Why is it, Kawam, that you Shirazis always talk of kabob-mabob,
and so on? you always add a nonsense word; is it for euphony?”
“Oh, ‘Asylum of the Universe,’ may I be your sacrifice; no
respectable person in Shiraz does so, only the lūti-pūti says it.”
Pūti is, of course, a nonsense (or meaningless) word, and lūti, as
here used, means a “blackguard!”
 CHAPTER XXII.
SHIRAZ AND FUSSA.

Cheapness of ice—Variety of ices—Their size—Mode of procuring ice—Water of

Shiraz: its impurity—Camel-fight—Mode of obtaining the combatants—Mode
of securing camels—Visit to Fussa—Mean-looking nag—His powers—See
the patient—State of the sick-room—Dinner sent away—A second one arrives
—A would-be room-fellow—I provide him with a bedroom—Progress of the
case—Fertility of Fussa—Salt Lake—End of the patient—Boat-building—Dog-
cart—Want of roads—Tarantulas—Suicide of scorpions—Varieties—
Experiment—Stings of scorpions—The nishan.

A great thing in such a warm place as Shiraz is the cheapness of

ice; for about fifteen shillings in dear years and five in cheap ones,
ice can be obtained, all through the warm weather, and in fact is
used from May to October, as no one would think of drinking
anything uncooled. A huge block is thrown down in one’s doorway
each morning by the ice-seller; it is supposed to weigh two Tabriz
maunds, or fourteen pounds.
The Persians well understand the art of making water-ices and
ice-creams, and various ices unknown to us are made by them, as
tamarind juice, pomegranate and cherry-water ices; iced “mast,” or
curdled milk, and various ices of pounded fruits, as apricots and
cherries, which are very good.
Ices, however, are served with them on a more lavish scale, and a
larger quantity eaten, than with us. When I accompanied Captain St.
J⸺ in a call he made upon the Muschir, four conical ices, the size
and shape of an ordinary sugar-loaf, were placed in handsome
Chinese porcelain basins before each of us. In fact the cheapness of
provisions generally causes among the well-to-do a lavishness and
profusion (not to call it waste) unknown in Europe.
 The Muschir has a “yakhjal,” or place for the making and collecting
and storing ice, in an open plain some six miles from the town at the
side of the Ispahan road. The earth is dug out to a depth of two feet;
with this earth a mud wall some twenty feet high is constructed of
sun-dried bricks. The excavation is some ten yards by one hundred,
and the wall is ten yards high by a hundred long; this wall runs in
such a way as to protect the open pond thus excavated, from the
hottest rays of the sun.
The delicious Ab-i-Rookhni (“stream of Rookhnabad”) is diverted
from its course during the first cold night. A few inches of still clear
water is collected in the pond, by morning it is frozen; at night the
water is again admitted, and another inch or two of ice made. When
three to six inches thick, the ice is broken and collected for storage in
a deep well on the spot: and so day by day the process goes on
during the short winter until the storehouses are full. Should the
supplies from these be exhausted by a very large demand, ice, or
rather blocks of snow, are brought from the mountains; but as these
are some distance, and as snow melts much faster than ice, the
weights being equal, the price rises.
An order is generally issued when the ice is running short that
each house is to be on half allowance—a wise measure, as it makes
the cooks careful, and so everybody gets some.
So common is the use of ice that the poorest are enabled to have
it, a big bit being sold for a farthing, and even the bowls of water for
gratuitous drinking at the shop doors are cooled by it. Ripe fruit is
generally also cooled prior to being eaten.
The water of Shiraz itself—unless that of Rookhni or Zangi,
another mountain spring, which has to be brought from a distance—
is almost poisonous, being much contaminated by surface drainage,
etc. The Mussulman world has a horrible idea that a certain body of
water, however great the quantity, or disgusting the nature, of the
filth poured into it, remains absolutely pure, and the result is that a
great deal of serious illness is produced; this is one of the reasons
why cholera is so very severe in the East, irrespective of the natural
action of the climate. I can only say that I was obliged, while in
Shiraz, never to drink water save when from the two springs, or in
the form of tea, when it was of course boiled; one glass of sherbet or
one tumbler of water making me ill.
My friend the British Agent, Mirza Hassan Ali Khan, C.S.I., used
always to send a servant to the Rookhni stream, but the fellow used,
I fancy, to fill his water-skins, which were carried on a mule,
elsewhere, for although Rookhni water tastes of the wild sage that
grows on its banks, and my friend the agent thus had as he fancied
an infallible means of knowing it, yet I think the wily water-bearer
was capable of having a stock of sage leaves with which he would
flavour the water got from the town stream, along the edges of which
sat all the laundresses of Shiraz washing (in it) their foul linen.
I met the Prince-Governor one day on horseback, and he asked
me if I had ever seen a camel fight. I replied that I had not; he told
me to ride on with him and he would show me sport, as he was
going to amuse himself with one. We rode to the back of the royal
garden, or “Bagh-i-No” (new garden); here are always encamped
hundreds of mules and camels. No sooner did the prince arrive than
the camel-men attempted to run away, but the farrashes with their
long sticks and a few horsemen soon brought them back.
The prince ordered them to bring two male camels (in a state of
must[21]). At this they wept and tore their hair, for they did not wish
their property to be destroyed or depreciated for the amusement of
the young shah-zadeh. However, there was no escape; the courtiers
soon pointed out two huge males secured apart from the rest of the
animals, and from their continued groanings and roarings evidently
in a state of must.
By the prince’s orders these were let loose; they “went for each
other” at once. At first they danced round one another in a lumbering
way; then what appeared like a huge bladder was projected from
their mouths: they then knelt before each other, and a sort of fencing
match took place; the ordinarily quiet, patient faces of the beasts
were changed into ones of savage fury; the mouths widely open, and
the retracted upper lips showed the white teeth; and from the open
mouths came quantities of foam. The long supple necks were
interlaced, and quickly darted from side to side, while now and then
the open savage mouths would be locked together. The object was
to seize either the throat or leg. The feints and meeting of the
mouths lasted some few minutes, accompanied by loud groans and
roarings of extraordinary fierceness. At length one beast, the paler
one, seized his adversary by the foot; while the other, a handsome,
long-haired animal, only got hold of his opponent’s ear. Blood flowed
freely, and the poor camel-men, who wanted to separate the
animals, were much beaten by the attendants. At last the dark long-
haired animal left go, and roared with agony; the victor commenced
to drag him about by the bitten foot. After some pressure the prince
allowed them to be separated. An awful wound was apparent on the
foot of the dark camel, and the efforts of some eight men with
bludgeons, ropes, and chains were required to restrain the victor
from pursuing his advantage, while the vanquished limped off with
his weeping master, roaring with mingled rage and pain. The prince,
ordering ten tomans to be given to the camel-men (poor fellows! I
doubt if anything ever reached them), rode off.
Camels are mostly not vicious, save when must. They can kill a
man with a kick; and when they bite, worry; and they generally bite
the piece out. They are usually tethered apart when in this state,
which soon passes off, and secured by bending one or even both
fore-feet, and tying the leg in this position, which renders them
powerless. This is the same principle as that adopted by Rarey the
horse-tamer.
About this time I was requested to go at once to Fussa—this place
is some ninety miles from Shiraz—where the Governor of the
province (that of Fussa) lay ill. I obtained leave of absence for a
week, and made an arrangement to go in one day and night, return
in another twenty-four hours, and have five days’ attendance on my
patient.
The Muschir, to whose daughter Mirza Ali Akbar the Khan Wakeel,
as he was called, was married, was anxious that I should start at
once, and gave me a handsome fee. I agreed that I was while at
Fussa to be the guest of my patient, and that he was to find me in
food and house-room; and this was an important stipulation, as in a
place where a European had possibly never been seen, it might
have been difficult to get a comfortable lodging or even food.
Two wild-looking horsemen and a servant of the British Agent
presented themselves, with a little bay pony of dolorous aspect in a
halter for my riding. I, knowing that no horses were laid out, asked
with scorn how the small pony could possibly carry me ninety miles
in twenty-four hours, which I had stipulated for; but all three men
assured me that I should certainly arrive, myself and saddle-bags, in
the time on the little animal. I confess that I disbelieved them, but we
started off at a smart canter, and we cantered for ten hours with
short breaks of ambling. We got to a village two hours after midnight,
slept for four hours, and arrived in Fussa at four, doing the journey
under the time; the small bay seemingly not at all distressed, and
prepared to go back to Shiraz at once at the same rate if desired. I
was then surprised; I know that any one of my own well-fed big
horses would have knocked up. But these little animals, used to the
severest continuous work, do it in the most extraordinary manner. I
am a big, heavy man; my saddle was a heavy English hussar
saddle, and my bags and bedding certainly weighed forty pounds or
more. Of course the beast I rode was a good one of his kind, and
probably a very good one, for when I left, the Governor of Fussa
declined to part with him even at a fancy price of three times his
apparent value.
We rode up to the door of the Governor, whom I found propped up
with pillows in a corner of the room, a huge, fat man about thirty-
eight, who was a general debauchee, opium-eater, wine and spirit
drinker, and bhang smoker. He was suffering from gout.
An aged Syud, with a long beard and blue turban, was in
attendance from Shiraz as his physician. The Governor himself was
a strikingly good-tempered, even jovial man, and between the
paroxysms of his gout, joked and talked. The village, or rather
district, magnates sat round him chiming in with all his observations,
and trying to soothe his pains. They were, master and retainers, the
fattest set of men I ever saw collected in one room. A long
description of the patient’s ills ensued, many pipes of peculiar
construction were smoked, and I was offered a tumblerful of strong
spirit as a matter of course, considerable surprise being expressed
at my refusing it.
Tea was continually handed round, which everybody, including the
patient, swallowed; a native bottle was frequently produced from
under his pillow from which he partook of copious draughts of pure
spirit, taken from a silver bowl holding half a pint: this was emptied
frequently. Every two hours my patient swallowed a bolus of opium.
Though we were in the middle of summer, some thirty to fifty people
were always in the room, and every window was shut and curtained;
thus a semi-darkness was produced. Smoke from innumerable pipes
filled the air, while the heat was rendered greater by a huge
samovar, in which water for tea-making bubbled. The temperature
was ninety degrees out of doors at five p.m. The chatter of
conversation was continuous, and four musicians strove to drive dull
care away by playing loudly in a corner. I found my patient had just
had an attack of delirium tremens, and was going the right way for
another.
At seven, after having prescribed for him, I escaped to my quarters
under the pretext of dining, and lay down to rest. At nine my servant
informed me that my dinner was about to be served; and a large
circular tray, having some six dishes on it, with bread and all et
cæteras, a huge bowl of iced sherbet and a bottle of wine, was
brought in. I was very hungry and anxious to fall to, and I felt a sense
of anguish, when, to my astonishment, my servant (whom I had
brought from Shiraz), assuming the part of the Governor of
Barataria’s physician, ordered the whole away in an indignant voice.
As soon as my dinner had disappeared, I demanded an
explanation of my man. It was this: “I know, sahib, that the dinner I
sent away was quite enough for the sahib, and a good dinner, but
here in Persia a man’s position is reckoned by the quantity of the
dinner sent him, and the number of plats. They have sent you six
plats. I have told them that you couldn’t think of dining on less than
eighteen; and if I allowed you to eat the dinner that was sent, good
as it was, you would be looked down on. Are you less than the
prince’s physician? Certainly not. They would send him, or rather he
would demand, at least twelve plats. I assure you I am acting in your
interest.”
I suppose the fellow was right. Dinner for at least twenty-four
persons was brought on three huge trays. I tasted some half-dozen
well-cooked dishes, and then my servant removed the rest, and I
observed him, with the master of the house and numerous hangers-
on, dining in the open air on the very copious dinner that remained.
The man was right. Such are some of the ways a Persian has of
keeping up his consequence.
About ten p.m. I went, a few doors off, to the house of my patient
the Governor. The same stifling room, the same hard drinking, only
now everybody was drinking. Dancing-boys and singers, shrieking
the noisy love-songs of Persia in chorus, were keeping up the spirits
of my patient. To the few who were not drinking wines or spirits, tea
was continually handed. Long conversations on the topic of the
patient’s illness took place, and on local politics. Wearily, at two a.m.,
on the ground that my patient must try to sleep, I succeeded in
getting away. I was accompanied home by a big man with a jet black
beard, a Khan who was one of the Muschir’s retainers, and a polite
fellow. What was my disgust to find his bedding spread in my little
room. I told my man to bring him my water-pipe to smoke, and then I
remonstrated. I said it was not a “Feringhi” custom to sleep in a room
with strangers. But the Khan said it was late, that there were no
other quarters, and commenced to disrobe. “If you must have a
separate room, take that,” said he, pointing to two heavy doors at the
end of the apartment.
I opened them, and found a small room, windowless, in which
apparently charcoal had been stored. Impossible for me to sleep
there; but, thought I, “these are really my quarters, why shouldn’t the
Khan sleep there? he is the intruder.” I pretended to collect my
bedding.
“You are never going in there!” said he.
“Why not?” I replied. “Look, look! the huge scorpion!” I shouted. He
jumped up, seized a stick, and ran into the charcoal cupboard, for it
was nothing more.
 “Where?” said he.
“There! there!” said I.
He was well inside—to slam and secure the heavy doors was the
work of a moment. He shouted and swore, kicking at the door, but it
was a very strong one, and nobody came to his assistance. He then
entreated, promising to go elsewhere; but I couldn’t trust him, and so
I composed myself to sleep, and soon dropped off. In the morning on
waking a melancholy voice entreated liberation; but I could not do it
then, as he might have taken vengeance. So I went off to the
Governor, and complained of the intrusion on my quarters; my man
then liberated the much-begrimed but now humbled Khan; and I got
another set of rooms, in which I was more comfortable.
I saw no more of the Khan: the laugh was too strong against him,
and he returned at once to Shiraz. Until my arrival the Governor was
not aware of the nature of his disorder; with great trouble I got him to
reduce his opium and cease his potations. I was happily able to give
him relief, and we parted mutually satisfied after I had been five days
at Fussa.
The place was much warmer than Shiraz; grain and cattle were
cheap indeed here. The soil, though sandy, is very fertile; and the
town, or rather collection of villages (for it is more a district than a
town), is interspersed with groves of date palms. Oranges are, of
course, abundant, and there is great plenty in the place. There had
need be, for the exactions of those in power are very great in Persia.
The people were a laughing, careless set, devoid of fanaticism,
having indeed very little religion. Nearly all drank wine to excess.
The women seldom veiled, and talked with me without any mauvaise
honte. They indeed seemed to do most of the work; for the field-work
was probably not heavy, save at harvest-time, the country being so
very fertile. The road from Fussa was a howling desert, except a
well-watered village about half-way.
We passed the edge of the big Salt Lake, some ten miles from
Shiraz, on which appears an island, or what looks like an island.
After skirting this lake, whose shores are bordered by an edge of
mud some fifty yards in width, we reached the village of Jaffir-a-bad,
and thence, passing small villages and gardens in every direction,
got to the plain of Shiraz. The pony brought me in as quickly as I had
gone out, and I had had a peep at country life in the south of Persia.
The prince’s hakim-bashi, the M.D. of Paris, replaced me, and he,
too, had a week’s leave. When he left, the old Syud told the patient
that he had gangrene, cut off the gouty toe, and being unable to
staunch the blood, the man died in forty-eight hours.
A year after this, one of the sergeants built a large boat for the
exploration of the Salt Lake. This boat-building was an amusement
for us, but the boat was found to be so heavy that it required fifteen
porters to carry her through the streets. She certainly held eight
people, but was very deep in the water, and more a barge than a
boat, but as she was flat-bottomed she would not turn over. While I
was in Ispahan, where I had gone on duty, she was placed on the
large tank of the Bagh-i-Takht, and after twenty-four hours left to the
mercy of the populace. I believe she is at the bottom of that tank
now.
Another of the sergeants, a really skilled workman, and fired by
the actual boat having been floated, in conjunction with the builder of
the first one, resolved to make a real wherry. This they did from
various drawings, and they succeeded in building a very handsome
boat, having curved planks, which were bent with great trouble with
hot water. This boat was also fastened with copper rivets, and really
handsomely finished; but though so light that three men could carry
it, it held two comfortably, and would probably have been speedy, but
it was so terribly crank that no one would venture in it; and though it
was ballasted till the gunwale was almost level with the water, it
turned over on the slightest movement. This, the second and last
boat built by the English in Shiraz, is also at the bottom of one of the
tanks. At Ispahan an extraordinary barge was made afterwards by
two of the staff for the Zil-es-Sultan, and this could be rowed; but it
was a barge, and had no pretensions to be called a boat.
I now started a dog-cart, which I received from Kurrachee,
intending it for Ispahan, where there are good roads; as fate would
have it, when the thing arrived I had been stationed at Shiraz, where
there were next to no roads. I put my trap together with some
difficulty, for the wood had warped in the long land journey, and
found it to be a big dog-cart of the largest, heaviest, and (luckily)
strongest type. Its weight appalled us all.
Followed by a crowd, our servants dragged it outside the city
gates, and I put my chestnut horse in. Of course, he had never been
in the shafts before. On attempting to urge him forward he sat down,
as a dog sits, and declined to stir; this manœuvre he constantly
repeated. I now in despair tried an old and valueless grey horse. He
walked off with the machine at once, and, barring the want of roads, I
had no difficulty. Luckily, the trap was built of a solidity I have never
seen, save in railway carriages, and so, regardless of roads, I was
able to go about. The stony bed of the river, with an occasional bit of
hard road, and thence to the sandy plain of Jaffir-a-bad, was about
the only drive.
Here, and here only in the neighbourhood of Shiraz, one sees
enormous tarantulas. These beasts, some with bodies as large as a
pigeon’s egg and legs in proportion, are very brave; when attacked
with a stick, instead of taking flight, they advance threateningly at the
person who molests them, and attempt to bite the stick; they are
really formidable-looking brutes, covered with brown hair.
A story was told me by the late Dr. Fagergren, a Swede in Persian
employ, who had been twenty-five years in Shiraz, to the effect that
scorpions, when they see no chance of escape, commit suicide; and
he told me, that when one was surrounded by a circle of live coals, it
ran round three times and then stung itself to death. I did not credit
this, supposing that the insect was probably scorched, and so died. I
happened one day to catch an enormous scorpion of the black
variety. In Persia they are of two kinds: black; and light green, or
greenish yellow; the black variety being supposed to be much the
more venomous. The full-grown scorpions generally are from two to
three inches long; I have seen one five inches when extended from
the tip of the claws to the sting, but he was phenomenal. The one I
caught was very large, and to try the accuracy of what I supposed to
be a popular superstition, I prepared in my courtyard a circle of live
charcoal a yard in diameter. I cooled the bricks with water, so that
the scorpion could not be scorched, and tilted him from the finger-
glass in which he was imprisoned unhurt into the centre of the open
space; he stood still for a moment, then, to my astonishment, ran
rapidly round the circle three times, came back to the centre, turned
up his tail (where the sting is), and deliberately by three blows
stabbed or stung himself in the head; he was dead in an instant. Of
this curious scene I was an eye-witness, and I have seen it repeated
by a friend in exactly the same way since, on my telling the thing,
and with exactly the same result. For the truth of this statement I am
prepared to vouch.
Of the effects of the sting of the scorpion (generally only the lower
orders are bitten, as they are barefooted, and their work may take
them to cool and damp places where the insects love to lie) I have
had much experience: I consider it is never fatal, save in the case of
infants stung in the throat, but it is very painful, the only remedy
being liquid ammonia to the wound, which gives speedy relief.
I have never seen a case of serpent-bite in Persia, and
hydrophobia is very uncommon, though it is said to exist. The only
case of rabies I have seen is that of Pierson’s dogs, narrated
previously. Hornets and wasps sting badly, and frequently I have
known death occur in a child much stung. The sting is worse than
that of the British wasp. As to the Persian tarantula, it merely bites.
A curious custom in Persia is the “nishan,” or token. The token is
some secret conveyed by a third party, as a token or sign of the
consent of the giver of the token to the request. Thus a man will say,
if away from home, and one wishes to borrow his horse, “Tell my
steward to give you my horse, by the ‘nishan’ (or token), that I gave
him a present this morning.” As the steward knows that the giving of
the present was only known to his master and himself, he hands
over the horse at once.
 CHAPTER XXIII.
SHIRAZ.—THE FAMINE.

Approach of famine—Closing of shops—Rise in mule-hire—Laying in of stores—

Seizures of grain—Sale of goods by poor—Immigrations of villagers to the
towns—Desertions of children—Increase of crime—Arrival of money from
England—Orphanage—Labour question—Koomishah—Village ruffian—His
punishment—Prince’s accident—The kalāat—Mode of bringing it—Invitation
to the ceremony—Procession—Gala dress of the prince—The arrival of the
firman—Assemblage of grandees—The kalāat—The Kawam’s kalāat—Return
to town—Sacrifice of an ox.

The famine was now setting in in Persia seriously—for two years

not a drop of rain had fallen; the crowds of professional beggars
were reinforced by really hungry people, thefts from shops became
common, as did burglaries, and the roads were now very unsafe. In
the corn-chandlers’ shops very small supplies of grain were seen,
and these much adulterated by the addition of dust, stones, etc. The
bakers baked as little bread as they could, mixing their dough in as
small quantities and as slowly as possible; the loaves became
gradually worse and worse, though the price remained nominally the
same. The coarse barley-bread ceased to be baked altogether, and
at last the bakers refused to sell to the crowds which formed at their
shop doors unless they were their regular customers, and then only
for ready money, and one small loaf to each person, selling by
weight being discontinued altogether. All who had enough ready
money laid in a store of grain and flour.
 FAMINE GROUP.

Those who had cheap horses and donkeys sold them, and the
price of the cheaper class of horse fell very low, till at last beasts
were turned out as worthless, and killed and eaten by the poor.
Meat fell in price, but this did not much help those who had no
money to buy even bread. Large establishments were suddenly
much reduced; the armies of hangers-on, who live on the leavings of
the rich and their attendants, were now thrown upon the streets.
Many of the bakers and butchers closed their shops and fled.
Mule-hire rose to an almost prohibitive price, and it must be
remembered that this, in a country where all transport is by mule and
camel, meant the paralysis of trade. All the animals, save of the very
rich, presented a half-starved appearance. In the waste grounds
near the towns, and by the sides of the high-roads, lay the bodies of
dead and dying mules and horses.
Flour became adulterated, and was ground at home by the
consumers. Grandees, and merchants began to lay in stores of grain
from their villages, disposing of none, although an enormous profit
could be obtained on the contents of their granaries. The Governors
of the towns seized grain, or paid for it at a nominal price, and sealed
it up in the public or Government grain stores. Provender on the
high-roads became unattainable.
Prices, though steadily rising for all descriptions of cereals,
suddenly dropped on the hope of rain, only to rise in a few hours to a
still more serious figure. The lower classes began to pledge and sell
their copper-ware, tools, arms, and clothing. In the post-houses,
where from six to ten horses were generally kept, only two, and at
times none, were seen.
Villagers in quest of food began now to pour into the towns, and
remained herding in starving crowds in the mosques, having neither
the means nor the strength to return to their homes. The charity of
the Persians themselves was nearly exhausted, for each rich man
had to feed his crew of hungry servants and their families. The few
unorganised attempts to feed the poor, resulted in the crushing to
death of several, and the one loaf of bread doled out to each person
on these rare occasions only served to prolong their sufferings.
Children now began to be deserted in the streets, the dead and
dying to be seen frequently, the greater portion of the bazaar to be
closed, typhoid to be rife, and crimes of violence to be frequent.
And now came the first funds from England from the Persian
Relief Committee. In each town the money was husbanded and relief
given in the way most efficient and economical. Money was found to
be the most safe plan, at all events in Shiraz, of which I speak from
experience, for any attempt to buy bread in quantities failed, and
caused an immediate rise in price. Very many applicants were sent
away; relief in the shape of a numbered ticket, entitling the bearer,
whose person was described in a book kept for the purpose, to
weekly relief in money, was given to the utterly destitute. The
difficulty of deciding on the claims of the various applicants was
great, and in many cases which had to be denied permanent relief,
temporary alms were given.
A large house was rented, and in it were placed all the deserted
orphans found in the streets; these were mostly the children of
villagers, though some were those of townspeople. These children
were plainly but comfortably clothed in the ordinary dress of well-to-
do Persian villagers, and well and regularly fed. They were placed
under the care of an intelligent and humane Persian, who really did
his duty to them, and were regularly inspected by the members of
the Relief Committee; also they were frequently seen at unexpected
times. The poor emaciated bundles of rags soon developed into
strong, healthy children, and the regular food, comfortable quarters,
and good clothes did wonders. Most of the staff took one or two into
their service.
Seven years after, one of my two, who were taken as stable-helps,
was getting pay from me at the rate of thirty shillings a month, and
was my head groom, and would anywhere obtain that pay. Two were
taken as markers in the billiard-room, and are now respectable
servants. As the famine ceased, the unclaimed orphans were
apprenticed to good trades, or placed in the houses of wealthy
Persians as servants. No attempt at proselytism was made, but a
Persian priest was engaged to teach the usual rudiments of reading,
writing, and the Koran.
Many villagers came in and claimed their children, and these were
often loath to leave their clean quarters and good food, to return to
hard drudgery and rags in their native villages.
It may be safely said that no deaths from starvation took place in
Shiraz after the arrival of the first instalment of relief money from
England. Of course, the application of the funds was carried out
irrespective of the religion of the applicants; and this application was
easier in Shiraz than in Ispahan. The Armenian community in Shiraz
were very few, and only some four families needed relief; while, on
the contrary, the Jews were many and terribly poor.
 As to the labour question, a few of the more able-bodied were set
to the nominal work of picking the stones off the high-road, but no
heavy labour was insisted on. In the winter, too, the snow having
blocked the streets, the poor were employed in removing it for the
general good.
I happened to go to Ispahan, and also assisted in the distribution
there. The Ispahanis are much more provident than the people of
Shiraz, and I do not think the distress would have been so great but
for the influx of villagers. At Koomishah, the third stage from Ispahan
towards Shiraz, the effects of the famine were very severe, and I
was glad to be able to distribute some four hundred kerans of the
Poor Fund, both going and coming, there. Of course this amount did
not go far, and I was besieged in the post-house by the hungry
crowd of women and children; the sum was too small to permit of
giving anything to the men. First we admitted all the aged women,
and gave them a keran and a half each; then each child was given a
keran, and, when they had secreted it, the whole number were
passed out and the gates closed. From the roof of the post-house I
perceived a big burly villager, who was employed in robbing the
children, as they went out, of their slender store, even throwing them
on the ground and taking the coin from their mouths. The other
villagers, of whom there was a large mob, merely laughed, but did
not interfere. But getting down from the back wall of the post-house
by means of horse-ropes, the postmaster, my groom and I
succeeded in catching the fellow, and dragging him into the post-
house, and then the post-boys gave him a good hiding by my order,
and we took the money away. He, of course, complained to the local
Governor, who requested an explanation. I called on him and told
him of the fellow’s misdeeds, and, much to his astonishment, the
man in power gave the ruffian a liberal bastinado.
Terrible stories are extant of what happened in certain places, and
there is no doubt of the truth of many of these. That the people ate
grass and the carrion, that they lived on the blood at the public
slaughter-houses, that they, having sold all, also sold their children,
is within my personal knowledge. Cannibalism, too, was proved. In
fine, had it not been for the exertions of the Persian Relief
Committee in London, the ravages of the famine would have only
ended in the temporary depopulation of the south and centre of
Persia.
Each great personage in Ispahan and Shiraz did his best to
preserve his own dependents from starvation; but there being no
kind of organisation among the Persians, and transit-rates being
prohibitive, and the roads unsafe, small local famines were frequent,
and the ravages of typhoid and diphtheria—the latter previously
unknown in the country—were very great.
Just now an accident to the Prince Zil-es-Sultan took place. He
was out shooting near Shiraz, and having charged one barrel of his
gun twice, the weapon burst, tearing the palm of his hand and the
ball of the thumb. I was called in to attend him, and was fortunate
enough to preserve the hand. For this his Royal Highness was very
grateful, and during the whole of my time in Persia showed me many
kindnesses, besides giving me an extremely liberal fee, even for a
king’s son: he compelled his vizier also to give me one. He even
insisted on decorating me with the star of the Lion and Sun; but as
Englishmen in Government employ are not allowed to accept the
decorations of foreign Governments without special permission, the
honour, much coveted among the Persians, was not of much benefit
to me. I got it in a very public and sudden manner, and as the
occasion of giving it was sufficiently curious, I may as well describe
it.
It is the custom in Persia to send to all governors, royal
personages, and ministers, a yearly present from the king, to show
the royal satisfaction. These presents are all termed kalāats (or
dresses of honour), even though the gift may be in jewellery, or even
specie; a dress or robe of greater or less value, or a jewelled
weapon, being the general kalāat. The withholding of the yearly robe
of honour to a provincial governor is generally the sign of the royal
disfavour, and the despatching of it often the token of the recipient’s
confirmation in office, though at times it is what gilds the bitter pill of
his recall. The kalāat is usually sent from the capital by the hands of
some person of consequence, generally some favoured servant of
the Shah, and this man is sent down that he may receive a present,
generally large in amount, from the recipient, and may bring back the
usual bribe to the Prime Minister for retention in power, or even the
same thing to the king himself.
The New Year’s festival is generally the time of the despatch of the
official dresses of honour from the capital. The bearer, and his two or
more attendants, generally come on post-horses, and the etiquette is
that the recipient goes out to meet the royal gift. The bringer, on
arrival at the last stage, is met by the servants or friends of the
recipient, who send off to announce the arrival. He now takes off his
travel-stained garments, puts on his finery, and starts on horses sent
out for him, bearing the royal bounty at his saddle-bow wrapped in a
Cashmere shawl. The recipient, accompanied by all his friends and
the greater portion of the populace—for the bazaar is closed by
order, and a general illumination commanded for the evening; all the
shops are visited, and severe fines inflicted on any one disobeying—
proceeds to meet the present, and await its arrival. The distance that
is gone is regulated by the position of the recipient—the greater the
personage, the less distance he goes.
One morning the prince sent for me and told me that a kalāat from
the Shah would arrive for him the next morning, and that he wished
his hakim-bashi and myself to ride out with the magnates of the
place, who would accompany him, to meet it. I of course expressed
my readiness to attend his Royal Highness, and I was told by the
hakim-bashi, who was very jubilant, that probably a decoration would
be given to each of us. To have declined would have been to give
mortal offence, and to have lost the favour of the Governor of the
province, whose partiality secured me against annoyance from the
natives of any kind. So the next day I presented myself at nearly
noon and found the prince in great feather, the head astrologer
having appointed two in the afternoon for the enduing of the dress of
honour. Every one was in gala dress, the streets were thronged by a
holiday mob in high good humour. And out we all rode. First came
four yessaouls, or outriders, with silver maces, showing off their
horses by capering in circles; then six running footmen, each with his
silver-headed staff and clad in the royal scarlet, in the ancient
costume of Persia, and with the strange head-dress somewhat like a