Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum
The Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Basic and Secondary Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has hinted that the government will ask secondary school authorities to review the ban on phones and other gadgets in senior high schools in order for students to be able to access the new free Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) policy in educational institutions by the government.
The Deputy Minister gave the hint in an interview on Citi FM’s Eyewitness news, stressing that “government wants the free Wi-Fi policy to have a greater impact in the educational sector.”
“Ghana Education Service (GES) has been asked to review their policies and they are going to have to review it (the ban on smart devices). We are in the 21st century,” he said on Citi FM yesterday.
There have been arguments against the use of gadgets with internet access in schools with the reason that there would be no censorship and adult supervision, but the Deputy Minister said these concerns were not significant enough to hold back change.
“There is a way to go around the concerns of parents and teachers as to which website the students can go to or cannot go to,” he said.
The Deputy Minister said it was time society embraced the positives of technology in schools.
“In the 21st century, you have to leverage technology to improve learning outcomes. It is something that has to happen and ought to happen,” he said.
Indications from the Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, are that a contract has already been awarded for the provision of the Wi-Fi infrastructure.
In February, he said a contract for the first batch of Wi-Fi installations would begin in some second cycle and tertiary institutions as part of the project to be in place.
According to Dr. Bawumia, the government would increase resources and infrastructure for special need education across the country.
The Vice President, however, did not name the contractor.
Already, the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has said the plans by the government to provide Wi-Fi in schools will help the educational sector.
Eric Angel AgbeyCarbonu, President of NAGRAT, said if the plan is well implemented by the government, it will take away some challenges that teachers and students face in the teaching and learning environment.
“This promise means that the huge challenge is going to be taken away from us, that is, the cost in acquiring and purchasing data.
“It is a very useful thing if it is done. It will help us and help teaching and learning. We all know that in this Covid-19 era if we have had a very strong infrastructural base in IT, we wouldn’t have had problems,” he added.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr