SURVEY REVEALS SORRY STATE OF ICT EDUCATION IN THE NORTH

SURVEY REVEALS SORRY STATE OF ICT EDUCATION IN THE NORTH

Government’s quest to promote the study of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in basic schools throughout the country is failing in the Northern Region of Ghana.

This was captured in the report of a survey conducted by Savana Signatures (SavSign) in collaboration with Initiative For Integrated Development (IFID), both Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that are into ICT in the three Northern Regions which revealed that 54.10% of basic schools have no ICT facilities.

According to the report, only 45.90% of basic schools in the three Northern Regions have inadequate computers that had not been put to good use due to lack of well equipped state-of- -the-art computer laboratories and qualified ICT tutors to teach ICT.

Osman Usif, Director of the IFID presented the report at the first ever teachers’ forum on ICT organized to adopt pragmatic measures that will resolve problems hindering the study of ICT in basic schools in the North.

The report disclosed that government’s supply of computers to basic schools in Northern Ghana stood at only 11.10% and that Parent Teacher Associations were found to be the major providers of computers to their respective schools scoring 48.20%.

NGOs that are into education and school authorities contributed 23.10% of the supply of computers to the basic schools.

The report also mentioned that 81.70% of schools interviewed said they did not have internet facilities in their schools whiles only 5.80% had such facilities.

Steven Agbenyo, Team Leader of SavSign said his outfit was established to champion the study of ICT in basic schools in the North.

He disclosed that SavSign has since its establishment offered skill training to teachers and students at various educational levels in the three regions of the North.

Mr. Agbenyo said plans were afoot to organize more training workshops for particularly students of the teacher training colleges in Northern Ghana to equip them with the knowledge and skills of ICT.

This he noted will enable the teacher trainees to properly teach the subject when they join the mainstream teaching profession.

Raphael McClure Adomey, a computer science tutor at the St Charles Seminary Senior High School in Tamale identified teachers’ low level of understanding in ICT as one of the major challenges that has affected the study of the subject in basic schools.

“Teacher trainees are taught ICT based on what is called outlines instead of syllabus and when they complete school they cannot teach anything beyond what they were taught at the training college.” Adding “Most ICT teachers are found wanting when students ask them questions that they cannot answer, and this is because of their low level of understanding in ICT,” he stated.

Mr. Raphael McClure Adomey suggested that regular orientation courses should be organised for all teacher trainees and teachers to upgrade their skills while efforts are being made for expansion to cover hardware syllabus.