Archbishop Desmond Tutu has offered his whole-hearted
backing to an innovative youth program that will bring tuition-free
online education to African nations. Archbishop Tutu is expected to
attend the gala launch of PPL with his daughter Rev Mpho Tutu on
October 18th in Ottawa, at which President Bill Clinton will be the
keynote speaker.
Professeurs pour la
liberté (PPL) taps the energy of youth as well as
course material and recycled technology from developed nations to
deliver tuition-free online education to the African continent.
Archbishop Tutu was personally affected
by the earliest rulings of apartheid, which ensured that proper
education was made available only to whites. He feels strongly about
the power of education, and its potential to lift a nation. In his
speech in Ottawa at the launch of the Technology Transfer Program
for Professeurs pour la liberté, Reverend Tutu made his views very
clear:
"Education
is the key to the future prosperity of a nation. There are few, if
any,
greater
gifts we can give to developing nations than to educate their
people. Professeurs
pour la liberté draws much of its power to deliver
education from the energy and enthusiasm of youth. PPL offers
scholarships to young people from around the world to deliver
tuition-free online education to the African continent. The program
builds synergy by blending donated course material and recycled
technology from developed nations with the idealism and
adventurousness of youth.
Archbishop Tutu was
particularly drawn to the grassroots nature of Professeurs pour la
liberté. Again, from his speech at the launch of the Technology
Transfer Program for Professeurs pour la liberté:
Decades
of traditional aid programs have shown that traditional aid has very
limited
power to transform a society.
Unlike traditional aid
programs, which aim to orchestrate from afar, PPL offers human,
on-site, grassroots help. Similar to the operations of
Médecins sans Frontières and the Peace
Corps, young people from around the globe will work in
Africa, with Africans, to develop online infrastructures, to help
deliver university-level courses, and to assist and encourage
African students.
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