Gov’t Applauded For “One-Teacher-One Laptop” Initiative
Source: News Desk
As part of efforts to help enhance teaching and learning; the government has taken a judicious step by partnering with Teacher Unions to distribute laptops to all teachers in the country.
This giant initiative taken by the government was to fulfill its promise of the One Teacher, One Laptop programme.
Under the “One-Teacher-One Laptop” programme, each teacher at every level of education from Kindergarten to Senior High School will receive a laptop, a novelty in the country’s educational service delivery system.
The Teacher Unions will bear 30 percent of the cost while government absorbs the remaining 70 percent.
Gov’t Applauded For “One-Teacher-One Laptop” Initiative
The Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, who was launching the ‘One teacher one laptop’ initiative at St. Mary’s Girls Secondary School on Friday, September 3rd, 2021, in Accra, commended all teachers in the country for their dedication and sacrifices in educating the next generation.
“Globally, we know that the world is entering the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is highly dependent on information technology.
Today, we know that the amount of knowledge and resources for the purposes of teaching that are available on the internet is just phenomenal and therefore, one of the best ways to equip our teachers, is to make those resources and knowledge available to them as well,” he said.
Launching the ‘One Teacher One Laptop’ initiative, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia stated that the project is to help improve the quality of education.
Adding that, effective teaching and learning is critical to developing the human capacity for work, innovation, and creativity.
However, he described teachers as the indispensable pillars of this necessary capacity building.
“Many of us here today are products of your sacrifice and can testify to your indispensable role in educating our children,” he stated.
The government through the Ministry of Education, the National Teaching Council, and other international agencies have been working on a Comprehensive National Teacher Policy.
This is intended to motivate teachers and also to speedily address issues that affect teachers’ performance and their ultimate welfare.
Apart from restoring teacher trainee allowances, the government has since the year 2017, recruited over 90,000 staff to augment the staffing situation in schools and departed from the old tradition of keeping such recruited staff unpaid for months.
As part of efforts to improve the status of teachers, effective 2022, all products from the Colleges of Education will graduate as first degree holders and will be entering the Ghana Education Service as Principal Superintendents.
To enhance the status of teaching, Dr. Bawumia, said the government has also introduced the Professional Learning Communities as well as the Continuous Professional Development systems, which provide opportunities for teachers to enhance their learning and teaching skills.
The government has thus introduced the Continuous Professional Development Allowance with the expectation to pay this year’s allowance soon.
The Vice President advised teachers to upload relevant and common educational resource materials unto the systems, including recorded lessons, revision materials, and Chief Examiners’ Reports for easy access.
This to him, efforts are also being made to form a strong partnership between authors of various textbooks to ensure that relevant materials are digitised and placed on the systems.
On his part, the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum added that the provision of laptops for teachers forms part of the government’s digitalisation agenda.
Dr Adutwum said, “Teachers are going to get the opportunity to begin to practice what we have been preaching about for a long time. A teacher who is equipped with the requisite ICT tools to embark on teaching duties in the 21st-century perspective.”
The Lawmaker, therefore, assured the teachers that the laptops would be equitably distributed to all teachers starting from Senior High School to kindergarten.
Gov’t Applauded For “One-Teacher-One Laptop” Initiative
The General Manager of KA Technologies Ghana Limited, Madam Omolara Olakunmi, commended the digitisation agenda of the government to making teaching and learning easier and improving the lives of Ghanaians.
Since education and technology were two key ingredients that held the future of the nation.
Stressing that, education was a beacon of light whilst technology was an enabler that expanded the frontiers of knowledge to achieving greater heights.
“In furtherance, we stand with every teacher as a partner, a friend, and a comrade for digital transformation and we salute each of your sacrifices and cooperation in this journey.
With EduKAT, we are determined to empower the everyday dream of every learner and teacher everywhere,” she assured.
The President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, Ms. Phillipa Larsen, on behalf of the teacher unions, applauded the government for fulfilling its promise to teachers.
This she said, the laptops would go a long way to improve methods of imparting knowledge and lesson planning.
She also entreated the beneficiaries to ensure proper maintenance culture to prolong the longevity of the laptops.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com
