Ghana Government to fast track ICT deployment in education sector
The Ghana Government is committed to a comprehensive programme of rapid deployment and utilization of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) within the education sector, Dr Joseph S. Annan, Deputy Minister of Education, said on Wednesday in Accra.
He said it was the desire of government that through the deployment of ICT in the sector, the culture and practice of traditional memory-based learning would be transformed to stimulate thinking and creativity to meet challenges.
Dr Annan was speaking at the opening of a three-day Africa Knowledge Exchange Forum on the topic, “21st Century Skills, ICTs Curriculum and Assessment.”
The forum, which was organised by the Ghana e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI), is being attended by participants from 14 countries, comprising Ghana, Rwanda, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Cameroon.
Specific objectives to be discussed include exploring what 21st century learning is, how it differs from current practice and models in African schools, and what its requirements are.
The forum would also examine how ICT can help schools to enhance and enrich learning; and the motivation and acquisition of higher order thinking skills, using a wide range of readily available resources and software.
Dr Annan said global recession was an important issue to tackle since every nation depended on a highly skilled workforce, which could adapt to the changes that were occurring.
He added that global competition and co-operation, information growth, changes in the context of jobs and careers and a growing service economy are some of the changes and new skills required.
Dr Annan said in Ghana, a number of policies developed and initiated had been taken towards the achievement of the goals of providing ICT skills and knowledge to learners that would enable them to function in the emerging information society and knowledge economy.
He said a recent survey of all senior high schools jointly conducted by the Ministry and GeSCI to assess their e-readiness had highlighted a number of policy issues and challenges such as ensuring equity in implementation, designing appropriate management structures to support implementation, which must be addressed if ICT was to be integrated into teaching and learning with the aim of producing a 21st century workers.
The Reverend Emmanuel Dadebo, Co-ordinator of the ICT of the Ministry, said there had been several private initiatives to set up community-based ICT centres which had been used to support educational objectives.
Source: GNA