National Initiatives to Use New Information and Communication Technologies in Learning and Training - Ghana

Source: International Labour Organization

• The SchoolNet Initiative
• The WorLD Link Project
  • Objectives
  • Beneficiary Schools and their Facilities
  • The Project Management Committee
• The Ghana Computer Literacy & Distance Learning project [GhaCLAD]

The SchoolNet Initiative

Generally, SchoolNets are perceived as a powerful means to utilize the emerging electronic messaging technologies and the resources of the Internet. In Ghana the SchoolNet system generally serves as an ICT-mediated application development and delivery environment for educational programs at the pre-university level. SchoolNet systems provide an environment for learner-teacher, learner-learner and teacher-teacher interactions.

The resources and facilities of some of the fairly advanced SchoolNet systems are being used to facilitate the delivery and administration of school examination; in addition to the information disssemination of:

• inter-school activities
• school syllabus and recommended text book lists
• examination papers and results
• Ministry of Education (MOE) guidelines
• wide-ranging data including numbers of pupils and teachers.

From the experiences of SchoolNet in Ghana, as in the case of other African countries, there is evidence of it becoming part and parcel of schools worldwide. Increasingly, countries will embrace the SchoolNet concept and as a logical follow-up, the establishment of inter-linkages of regional and special group SchoolNets nationally and globally. Therefore, there will be more opportunities, for example, for schools in African countries to interact with others globally.

The WorLD Link Project

The WorLD Link Programme, a pilot SchoolNet project in Ghana is an example of an initiative designed to introduce ICTs into Senior Secondary Schools in Ghana and connect them to the Internet.

Objectives

The objectives of the Ghana project are to:

• implement the use of ICT in schools as a teaching and learning aid;

• link students and teachers with the aid of ICTs to improve educational opportunities;

• supplement inadequate educational material in school libraries with up-to-date educational materials on the Internet;

• assist students and teachers to create content on the Internet, relevant to local needs.

Beneficiary Schools and their Facilities

The Ghana pilot project begun in 1997 at three Senior Secondary Schools in Accra (the capital).In the same year, 14 schools from Accra and other cities were added to the project. Some of the beneficiary schools are:

• Accra Academy, Accra
• West Africa Secondary, Accra
• Presbyterian Boys' Secondary, Accra
• St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary, Accra
• Achimota Secondary, Accra
• Chemu Secondary, Tema
• Aburi Girls' Secondary, Aburi
• Opoku Ware Secondary, Kumasi
• Yaa Asantewaa Secondary, Kumasi
• Armed Forces Secondary Technical, Kumasi
• Holy Child School, Cape Coast
• St. Augustine's College, Cape Coast
• Ghana National College, Cape Coast
• Wesley Girls' High School, Cape Coast

Each school is equipped with a fully furnished computer laboratory with LANs connected to the Internet. Students and teachers of the participating schools are provided basic training including the Internet. Topics covered as part of the training programme are:

• E-mail, Web design and the Internet in general;
• Collaborative project design and implementation;
• Integration of technology into school Curriculum.

Computer laboratories are open for an average of 7 hours per school day. With an average class size of 45 students, each class is divided into two, so that half would be in the computer laboratory at a time (i.e. 2 or 3 students per computer) for half of the period (40 minutes) per week. Students are permitted to utilise the computers after school to work on collaborative projects and browse the Internet.

The Project Management Committee

The project is being implemented locally by a Management Committee that represents key stakeholders, mobilizes and manages funds from all sources.The Committee is made up of representatives from:

• Private sector

• Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service

• World Bank

• Conference of the Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS)

According to a project status report released by the Management Committee in 1999, the programme has yielded a number of benefits for the participating schools, for example:

• more interactivity in teaching and learning using computers;
• students have sharpened their research skills;
• students are collaborating and there is enhanced teamwork;
• students in Ghana are contributing to development of local content;
• students are able to access vast information sources relevant for their career development, such as, further education possibilities.

This is an electronic distance education project of the Voluntary Workcamps Association of Ghana in collaboration with Projectscope Inc. of Boston, USA. The objectives of GhaCLAD are:

• to explore means of utilising ICTs to improve education in Ghana;
• to strengthen the capacity of grassroots organisations, low income communities and local schools to initiate, choose, plan and manage their own self-help projects ICTs;
• to create a demonstration effect on public opinion in terms of what IT, electronic networking and community based computing can offer for national and international development;
• to increase awareness of how the computer and electronic connectivity can re-orient youth groups toward the economy and labour market of the 21st century; and
• to foster opportunities for youth from the all continents to engage in "service learning" providing computer literacy instruction to Ghanaian participants and technical assistance to the project as they learn about Ghanaian culture and society.

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