By Stephen Asante
Accra, March 25, GNA – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given an outlook of the benefits Ghana is to derive from its digitilisation in education as the Government resources students with tablet computers.
Some 1.3 million Senior High School (SHS) students are billed to receive a tablet each under the ‘One Student, One Tablet’ initiative being implemented under the Ghana Smart Schools Project.
The President, speaking at the launch of the Project in Accra, said the devices fitted with digital contents to aid research, teaching and learning, aimed at making the students technically-inclined.
The overarching objective is to equip the students with state-of-the-art learning tools to be empowered to compete globally.
He said the nation was on the trajectory to making her educational space more attractive, well-resourced and scientific in line with the 21st Century and Fourth Industrial Revolution demands.
Therefore, the huge investment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education as well as technical and vocational training, is in line with the vision to transform the educational sector.
“Government continues to seek innovative ways to boost further the ‘Free SHS’ policy.
“As we gather here today, let us reflect on the crucial role education plays in shaping the destiny of our nation. Indeed, education is at the centre of poverty eradication,” he stated.
President Nana Akufo-Addo said in pursuance of his Administration’s policy, the next phase of the ‘Free SHS’ policy would be propelled by digitalisation to enhance online and offline teaching and learning experience.
At the tertiary level, the Government intended to provide at a discounted price, tablets and laptops to students and lecturers to facilitate academic work, he hinted.
The President, justifying the massive resources pumped into educational development, stated that more than 500, 000 children entered the SHS this academic year – the highest ever enrolment of children into SHS in a single year in the nation’s history.
A substantial number of Ghanaian children running into millions, have so far benefitted from the SHS policy since its inception in 2017.
“The considerable budgetary allocation within the period totaling some 12.8 billion Cedis, amply demonstrates the sheer determination by the Akufo-Addo-led Government to ensure that education becomes a catalyst around which the future transformation of our nation will revolve,” President Nana Akufo-Addo noted.
On the Ghana Smart Schools Project, he disclosed that the Government was constructing 100 educational facilities across the country, of which 30 were expected to be completed this year.
The schools will be provided with solar panels and digitalised infrastructure.
This is to enhance teaching and learning for transformative and futuristic education.
The President was optimistic that with the plans being put in place, the schools would be turned into hubs of innovation and creativity.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, said the future of Ghana in terms of educational development could not have been better as being witnessed currently.
“Education changes the fortunes of nations,” he stated, noting that the Ministry had stepped up efforts to ensure that the nation achieved the Sustainable Development Goals on education within the stipulated period.
“We have only six years to achieve inclusive and equitable education for all,” he stressed, and lauded the President for his determination to see to the realisation of the nation’s agenda.
In attendance at the programme was the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumiah, educationists and technocrats, as well as members of the Diplomatic Corps.
GNA