By Francis Ntow
Accra, Aug 27, GNA – Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, the Vice-Chancellor, University of Ghana, has distributed 120 laptops to brilliant but needy students under the university’s “One-Student-One Laptop (1S1L)” initiative.
At a short ceremony to hand over the laptops to the beneficiaries, Prof Amfo said the move formed part of efforts to create a culture that promoted research, teaching and learning through technology, “anchored in humanism.”
It was to also help achieve the university’s goal of becoming a “world-class research-intensive” University and increase its contribution to national and global development.
She explained that her goal for the University was to “train students who are critical thinkers, technologically adept, humane, culturally sensitive and ready to provide leadership for the country and the continent.”
“I will focus on developing 21st-century citizenry skills of our students. It shouldn’t matter whether you are an Engineering, Mathematics, Nursing, Political Science or Theatre Arts Student. Through our programme and content delivery, our students and graduates ought to be ready for the fourth industrialization revolution,” she said.
The VC congratulated all the beneficiaries and urged them to utilise the laptops effectively to achieve academic excellence.
Prof Amfo also applauded the Committee for doing thorough work in identifying the targeted recipients of the initiative and appreciated all the corporate bodies and individuals who have supported the project.
Prof Peter Quartey, Chair, 1S1L Committee, assured students from other campuses of the University that they would also benefit from the initiative, noting that they used a stringent process to identify the beneficiaries.
He explained that the rigorous selection process was because: “We (the Committee) don’t want people taking advantage of the project, someone making a business out of it; to get the laptops and resell them.”
Prod Quartey also said the Committee had developed a policy to guide the smooth implementation of the project so that its benefits were not negated and thanked the VC for the initiative and the confidence reposed in the Committee.
Mr Prince Asumadu, President of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC), and Mrs Christina Adu, President of Graduate Students’ Association of Ghana (GRASAG)-Legon, expressed appreciation to the VC for the initiative.
They noted that the 1S1L initiative met the educational needs of bridging the gap between effective teaching and learning and for all students to take advantage of it, while pledging their support to the initiative.
Mrs Adu described the initiative as “novel and visionary,” indicating the students’ leadership was poised to donate to the programme in the coming days and urged all beneficiaries to use the gadgets for their intended purpose.
GNA