The Vice President, Dr. Bawumia, has disclosed that all students in Secondary schools will be issued a free tablet each by the government. The decision according to him forms part of the government’s digitization agenda, which is ongoing.
When every SHS student gets a free tablet, the supplied gadget will serve as an alternative textbook for the students he added.
The plan of government was made public at the 2023 New Year School held at the University of Ghana, Legon.
“This year, we are on course to provide all Senior High School students in Ghana with tablets that are loaded with textbooks on them for their studies. That’s a very game-changing development. We will have past questions preloaded on these tablets that will be distributed.” He stated while addressing guests present at the event.
Dr. Bauwmia further added that the project is key, and therefore the government is already discussing it with publishers in the country ahead of the rolling out of the initiative.
According to him, the plan to make access to the internet free in Senior High Schools as well as in tertiary institutions to help schools and learners to improve teaching and learning is being considered. A contract for the supply of Wi-Fi services in schools has already been awarded. Other second-cycle and tertiary institutions are expected to be considered when the second phase of the Wi-Fi services in schools takes off.
While these ideas are laudable, public basic schools that need textbooks and improved school facilities have been neglected, and scarce resources are being pumped into such initiatives. There are many schools under trees at the basic school level, some do not have classrooms or desks. Many more basic schools lack ICT labs resourced with computers.
READ: All SHS Students To Receive Tablet This Year – Dr. Bawumia
As a nation, we have neglected the building of effective and efficient foundations for our education at the basic schools and frustrating their development and efficiency by denying them the needed investment in infrastructure among others. In a recent publication, the African Education Watch did indicate that government has half funding for Basic Schools for the year 2023.
The question is, what are we doing to ourselves if every SHS student is to get a free tablet but hundreds of thousands of learners do not have desks and textbooks to work with?