Chief Executive of GIFEC, Kofi Attoh, presenting laptops to pupils of Asuboi basic schools. Looking on is the headmaster of Local M/A JHS
Basic schools at Asuboi in the Offinso Municipality can now experience the magic of a computer after they received ten lap-tops from Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications.
The donor has also pledged to provide an electricity generator to power the computers.
Until now pupils of the local primary and Junior High Schools in the river blindness endemic farming community, had seen the communication device only on the blackboard or in books.
As a result, together with other communities like Koforidua and Damasua, students there were never registered for ICT in the Basic Education Certificate Examination.
GIFEC’s intervention comes as a huge relief for school authorities and the parents who had been levying students one Ghana cedi each to purchase, at least, one desktop computer and a power generator.
Education officials are excited about the latest development which they say is timely to reverse the trend.
Municipal Education Officer, Bertinus Bagbin, says unavailability of computers is hindering teaching and learning of ICT as a subject.
He commends GIFEC, and appeals for more computers.
“Over the years the challenges are still with us. Most of the schools you enter them, there are no computers”.
The unavailability of computers in schools where ICT is taught is affecting teaching and learning of the subject.
For instance, five schools in the area including Asuboi could not present candidates in last year’s examinations.
Mr. Bagbin says though there have been efforts by the Parent Teacher Association to buy at least a computer for each school, scarce resources in those deprived communities are militating against them.
They include Anyinasuso, Koforidua and Asuboi.
“Those communities are also so deprived that they cannot support to acquire things like computers”.
Chief Executive of GIFEC, Kofi Attoh says he had been touched by media reports on the poor conditions of pupils in the area, especially on Multimedia Group’s platforms.
He is hopeful the gesture would help improve performance of students in ICT –related subjects.
“That was a typical story of a place where they put up six pupils and only one pass. We need to strengthen the base, let them pass so that they can go to secondary school…. This is the fact that we need to support our basic education”, he explained.
Chief Executive of GIFEC, Kofi Attoh(right), presenting computers to Naa Prof Nabila. Looking on is Mamponghene, Daasebre Osei Bonsu II(in cloth)
GIFEC also donated ten computers and a printer to the National House of Chiefs in Kumasi.
Each of the ten Regional Houses of Chiefs offices also received two computers each.
It has over the years improved internet connectivity and usage in education institutions whilst setting up hundred and seven Community Information Centers(CICs).
One hundred and eighty one educational institutions have so far benefited from GIFEC’s benevolence since 2010 whilst offering ICT training and connectivity to the military, police, fire service and National Disaster Management Organization(NADMO). Others include prisons,BNI among others.
Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications currently has pilot projects in Electronic fishing, health and learning.
Mr. Attoh is hopeful the computers will help the chiefs to computerise and fast-track their operations.
President of the National House of Chiefs, Wulugu Naaba Naa Professor John Nabila commended GIFEC for the gesture, saying the “intervention has come at the right time”.