The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has on Monday, 26th March, 2024, inaugurated government’s key One-Student, One Laptop, initiative under the Ghana Smart Schools Project.
The Project includes the distribution of 1.3 million educational tablets to Senior High School students and the construction of 100 smart schools across the sixteen regions of the country, 30 of which are to be completed this year.
These smart school buildings will be fitted with solar panels, and seek to promote new and environmentally sustainable energy, thus ensuring they are off the national electricity grid and fully have digitalized infrastructures to advance teaching and learning.
Also under the Ghana Smart School Project, government plans to provide at a discounted price, tablet and laptop computers to students and lecturers to facilitate academic work.
Speaking at the project launch, President Akufo-Addo touched on government’s decision to align the digitalization agenda to education improvement initiatives, from pre-tertiary, all the way to the tertiary level, hence, the need for the project.
Explaining the government’s resolve and determination to derive the optimum benefits in the twin areas of education and digitalisation, he said, “the investment and commensurate commitments towards education enhancements over the last 7 years is unmatched by any government since the inception of our 4th Republic, some 31 years ago. These are seen in the areas of policy, infrastructure, equipment and retooling, furniture, scholarship, stationary provision and enhancement of teacher welfare. “
“As we gather here today, let us reflect on the crucial role that education plays in shaping the destiny of our nation. Indeed, education is at the centre of poverty eradication, it therefore explains why, against all odds, I went ahead to propose and subsequently implemented the Free Senior High School Program, popularly known as Free SHS in September 2017, nine months after I took office, he indicated.
Continuing he told the gathering made up of students and policy makers in education that, from “the initial annual enrollment of 422,940 in 2017, some 503,000 children entered senior high school this year, the highest ever enrolment of children into Senior High School in a single year in our history, with 5.10 million children having so far benefitted from the SHS policy since it was instituted in September 2017. “
He added that, the considerable budgetary allocations within the period totalling some 12.8 billion cedis, amply demonstrates the sheer determination by the Akufo-Addo government to ensure that education becomes a catalyst around which the future transformation of our nation will revolve.
That is the reason I’m particularly proud, of how in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic and other dire economic constraints, we’ve been able to sustain the Free Senior High School Program and advanced it even further with the addition of TVET and STEM, without compromising the needs of the lower level of our education system.
Explaining government’s conviction that the next phase of the FreeSHS policy will be propelled by digitalisation, he said, this will allow a seamless online and offline teaching and learning experience, towards an enhanced Free SHS school that will be environmentally friendly, boost academic performance, fitted with interactive displays, interactive learning and increase productivity, which is what has given birth to the Ghana Smart Schools Project.
“It is in fulfilment of the education for sustainable development agenda, a key element in the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals number 4, which prioritises quality education, a key driver for the attainment of all 17 SDGs. It will provide the needed infrastructure to facilitate E-learning and digitalisation to boost high school education in the country. Under a well thought out arrangement, each student will be provided with an electronic tablet, on which our comprehensive teaching and learning management systems and digital learning contents, to facilitate research, teaching and learning.”
He expressed confidence in the ability of the Ghanaian to build a future where every child has access to a world class education that unlocks his or her full potential and called to embrace this opportunity to transform our schools into hubs of innovation and excellence.