Dr. Temechegn, representing UNESCO-IICBA as the Programme Officer of ICT Use in Education, presented at the 5th Sustainable Rural Learning Ecologies Colloquium (SuRLEc 2016) hosted at the University of the Free State, Qwa-Qwa campus on 5th-7th October 2016. With the theme of “A construction of bricolage towards the creation of sustainable learning ecologies”, this event created a space to interrogate the relationship that exists between sustainable learning ecologies and bricolage. 

Keynote Speakers with the Assistant Vice-Principal of the Quaqua Campus of UFS

In his presentation, “Teacher Development for Sustainable Rural Learning Ecologies in the 21st Century Africa”, Dr. Temechegn stressed that besides the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4 aiming to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, in fact, education can accelerate progress towards the achievement of all of the SDGs. In this context, teacher development plays a critical role in the sense that teaching is the mother of all professions. Therefore, Dr. Temechegn looked at the theories and strategies of enhancing teachers for sustainable rural learning ecologies and explored the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in accelerating and achieving this objective within the framework of the SDGs.

This Colloquium served the basic aim of providing a conductive platform for postgraduate students and academic staff to engage in academic research discourses every year, so that they may share their research work with their peers and other scholars at local, national and international levels.

A Rural School in Quaqua with a solar panel and boarding houses