The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, yesterday announced plans of the government to distribute free electronic tablets to all Senior High School (SHS) students across the country. According to him, the move formed part of the government’s digitisation agenda, and it would serve as alternative textbooks for students.
The Vice President said the government was on course to provide all SHS students in Ghana with tablets which are loaded with textbooks on them for their studies. He said that it was a very game-changing development that would go a long way to enhance the education of children in Ghana.
Already, there is free internet accessibility for some SHS in place, while there are plans, according to reports, to extend it to tertiary institutions to improve teaching and learning. Dr. Bawumia says the move formed part of the government’s digitisation agenda.
The Chronicle is happy that Ghana’s basic and secondary education system is being linked to the Digital Ghana Agenda, which seeks to digitise government services and employ the application of digital technology to stimulate the growth and transformation of the Ghanaian economy, and thereby help ensure that every Ghanaian derives maximum benefit from this process.
The maxim of ‘catch them young’ cannot be lost on anyone, as the integration of the digital technology module into the basic school curricula is the best way to go.
The Chronicle commends the government on this initiative. Education and skills training are the most important source of empowering and providing opportunities to the youth to help drive Ghana’s development and in the process create jobs.
Ghana is rated as one of the best in terms of quality education in the sub-region. This is why the government is putting in a lot of measures to make education accessible and convenient to all.
The government has also implemented the Free SHS programme which has inspired more Ghanaian students to acquire secondary education to stand them in good stead to pursue tertiary education. The distribution of free electronic tablets to all Senior High School (SHS) students across the country, therefore, comes at the most appropriate time..
We are in the digital world and most of the things we do are done virtually, which makes it more accessible and convenient for all and sundry. Putting all texts books on the tablet will help the students greatly.
It would go a long way to make the students desist from carrying huge books in their backpacks which makes them suffer from back pain. It will also make students engage more in academic work which will help improve their academic performance.
Students studying with tablets will be saved from the stress of misplacing their textbooks and having to purchase again. This means that it will also cut down on costs. Putting texts books on the tablet will attract students to read and make good use of them.
The Chronicle would urge government to make this initiative come to pass, because it is late in coming.
