By Benjamin Akoto
Duadaso No1 (B/R), July 24, GNA - Mr. Mark Oppong Apraku, an Information Communication Technology (ICT) teacher at Nafana Senior High Model Primary School, Sampa has urged government to allocate more resources towards developing Scratch programming language among school children.
He emphasised that investing in Scratch programming would greatly benefit students, particularly addressing digital illiteracy.
The Scratch programme would help bridge the gap and empower all school children to acquire coding skills, he added.
Mr. Apraku made the statement in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Duadaso No1, to end the scratch coding pilot programme in the Sunyani Municipality and the Jaman North District.
Scratch is a visual programming language that enables students to create interactive stories, games and animations. Through designing Scratch projects, students enhance their creative thinking, systematic reasoning and collaborative skills.
The pilot programme, started in 2023, involved the participation of about 30 public and private schools, benefiting over 100 students in the Sunyani Municipality and Jaman North District.
This innovative initiative aimed at cultivating creative coding skills among students in underserved communities where access to computers, electricity and internet may be limited, hindering their ability to engage in computer programming and grasp its fundamentals.
The programme provided students with the opportunity to assess the effectiveness of the Physical 3D Scratch blocks for creative coding, developed by Mr. Gabriel Kwadwo Afram, an ICT Teacher at Sunyani Senior High School.
Mr. Apraku commended the creators of the 3D Scratch blocks, highlighting that once students grasp the programming concept and have access to computers, they would be able to engage in coding effectively.
He said with the Scratch physical blocks, students could be introduced to technology even without computers, allowing them to develop a foundational understanding of coding early to spark their interest in the field.
He urged the government, teachers and parents to allocate sufficient resources to ensure that school children were given the opportunity to develop and be exposed to the technological world from the early development stage.
In a related interview, Julia Fokuo Kusi, a second-year student at Sacred Heart Junior High School, emphasised the importance of coding in helping students to think critically before executing algorithms.
She highlighted that coding was both enjoyable and educational, and integrating into the curriculum would facilitate the seamless teaching and learning of ICT.
GNA