What constitutes an educational resource?

"For too many African teachers, advisors and teacher trainers, teaching and learning resources are printed materials such as pupils' books, teachers' guides and trainer materials. These materials may be supplemented by commercially printed educational charts and posters supplied by government, projects or NGOs... When teachers or student teachers, are expected to produce their own teaching aids, they often limit the activity to using flip chart paper and expensive marker pens. Government is usually seen as the source of both paper and marker pens. If government does not provide these 'essentials' then teachers believe that they have a ready excuse for why no teaching aids are found in a school... When teachers have such a narrow concept of what constitutes an educational resource this can greatly affect the chances of quality learning taking place in the classroom... If we do not make a move to radically change the concept of what constitutes a teaching and learning resource, and pass this concept on to every player in the education system, we will be addressing the same problem tomorrow and in five, ten, twenty even fifty years time." Source: Andy Byers (1999) What is TALULAR? Malawi Institute of Education.