The Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has disclosed that a One SHS Student one Tablet programme is coming. This when rolled out for SHS students will see students receiving tablets loaded with textbooks. This is as part of the government’s effort toward the digitalization of the education sector in Ghana. He made the disclosure at a TESCON national conference which was staged on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Kasoa.
One SHS Student One Tablet Programme to start – What to expect
According to the VIP, the tablets to be given to second-cycle school students will be preloaded with all essential textbooks and learning materials.
The One SHS Student One Tablet Programme will target only students in public SHSs across the country.
The Vice president did not give the exact date the programme will commence, but added that the move was in line with the Nana Addo led government’s strategic move to digitize the education sector.
The one teacher one laptop which is the teachers’ version has been rolled out with laptops being distributed to teachers at the Pre-tertiary level.
Dr Bawumia, while speaking at the TESCON conference, said “We have started the distribution of laptops to teachers”
“The next step is to provide tablets with preloaded textbooks and learning materials to Senior High Schools students”
The Vice President since taking office in 2017 has championed and continues to transform the Ghanaian economy through the digitalization of government systems and services.
The education sector has benefited through the one teacher one laptop initiative, online registration of teachers for the GTLE, and teacher posting systems improvement among others.
READ: DG of GES and Min. of Education must resign if textbooks are not supplied to schools
Vice president Mahamudu Bawumia further stated that Ghanaians want to enjoy a bright and prosperous future that can also overcome the shock and nature-influenced problems that confront us today. He further added that it was important that the nation believes in the capabilities of its people and students, who are already becoming champions and winning international robotic competitions at the Senior High School level.
READ: How Private Basic Schools are being destroyed by GES
It is however sad that while the government is planning to roll out such a laudable idea, Pre-tertiary schools especially KG-JHS are still waiting for their textbooks three years after the introduction of the new curriculum.
A promise by the GES and the MoE that schools will be provided with textbooks in the 2022 academic year is yet to be fulfilled. Some teachers at the basic school level are yet to be supplied with their laptops as well.
While the One SHS Student One Tablet Programme is good, let us turn attention to providing the basic needs of our basic schools to lay a solid foundation for our learners ahead of the quest to provide digital tools for students at the SHS.
One SHS Student One Tablet Programme, Digitization of Education and the need for efficiency and good decisions
The digitalization of Ghana’s education sector is a piece of welcome news for teachers and students and it is hoped that this One SHS Student One Tablet Programme will be implemented with the highest level of efficiency.
This will ensure that heavy hard copies of textbooks are replaced with digital tablets loaded with the digital versions of essential books for improved education outcomes.
However, the delayed supply of the most basic textbooks for public schools at the pre-tertiary level is long overdue and in supplying such tablets to SHS students, care must be taken so that they are not given to students to take home as was the case with the first-ever distribution of past questions and answers booklet provided to students at the SHS level by the government.
Source: Ghanaeducation.org | Wisdom Hammond