Mission EduTECH MENA: An Interview with Teach First Associate Director of Regional Expansion, Sid Djerfi
9 Aug
Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Sid Djerfi, a Teach First ambassador and current Associate Director of Regional Expansion at Teach First. Prior to his current position, he worked on implementing the Teach First model in Lebanon and the UAE. It was during this interview that Djerfi unveiled his viewpoint on the biggest problems that countries in the MENA region are facing in terms of education, and how we can help solve them. You’ll find the full interview below, followed by highlights from our conversation.
In your opinion, what challenges do MENA education systems face when it comes to taking advantage of education technology in schools?
There are obvious issues we can talk about such as the issue of connectivity or the issue of accessibility, but I’d like to focus on the bigger picture. The problem that MENA countries face is that in a lot of places, students have sufficient access to knowledge, but unfortunately they do not know how to utilize that information. They do not know, for instance, how to decide on which Ted Talk they should listen to. Also, a lot of the information out there is in English, and many of the students might not be able to understand.
So what you’re saying is that it goes beyond giving them access to technology, it is more about teaching them how to implement the technology. Correct?
Absolutely. There have been a lot of initiatives that have focused on getting computers into schools. But how do you use the computers? If a teacher asks a student to find research on cancer for instance, the student will return with a variety of different sources. Can the student tell what is biased information from what is not? Can they put in the right keywords when searching for things on Google? It is as if the library has been built in the town, but the kids are unable to figure out which book to read for the answers.
Based on your experience working in the MENA region, what type of education initiatives would you like to see develop in the region?
The biggest one I believe in is relating to what I do nowadays. I work for an organization called Teach First, known in America as Teach for America. The idea of the program is to encourage the brightest people to tackle the problems of society. What we’re doing is attracting top graduates in the country to teach in the most challenging schools. I believe this is one of the greatest ways that countries in the MENA region can grow. In the short term, it is really addressing what is happening in the classroom and making sure the kids are achieving the way they should, and in the long term it is creating an amazing movement of people who are working to make sure that education works for everyone.
Based off of that response, how would you attract the best and the brightest students to be willing to go teach in these underfunded schools?
One of the first things is to make people aware of the situation. I find that not many people are aware of the disparities in education. Then you have to make the profession itself very prestigious by making it selective. To make sure these kids get the brightest education, they need to be taught by the best of the best. Once you’ve attracted those people, you have to make sure the structure supporting them will allow them to become the best teachers.
Djerfi has shown us that there is a huge need for top-notch teachers and continued professional development in the MENA region. It is crucial that we equip educators, and hence students, with the digital literacy skills necessary in order to take advantage of the vast amount of information available to them.
Keep Calm and Learn On,
Nora
Image Available Under CC Licensure by derekGavey