Juanita Ahia Quarcoo, a lecturer with the University of Energy and Natural Resources, says the country should target equipping toddlers with digital skills to boost the prospects of Educational technology (EdTech) in Ghana.
“We need as a country to develop the culture of acquisition of digital skills and most of these training should begin with our kids at as young as the crèche level,” Mrs. Quarcoo said on the EdTech Monday segment on the Citi Breakfast Show.
She also said the state needed to support these endeavours by ensuring the necessary infrastructure is available.
“Aside from that, we should also have the agencies that are in charge of education to make conscious efforts of making available the requisite infrastructure and the tools that we need at every stage of the educational level so that our future generation can be ready for it.”
Also on the show, Dr Lucy Agyepong, the Associate Dean of Engineering at Academic City University College, agreed with making sure young children acquire digital skills.
“Kids of today, the way they can navigate around technology is amazing. So why don’t we start to harness that?”
Dr. Agyapong also said digital skills needed to feature in the curriculum at various levels.
“In our mainstream academia, we are not teaching this, that is why I am so excited about the fact that Academic City has been approved to run AI as a bachelors programme, robotics engineering as a bachelors programme because we know that the future of work is going to rely heavily on these programmes.”
EdTech Monday is an initiative of the Mastercard Foundation Regional Centre for Teaching and Learning in ICT.
This edition was on EdTech for the future of work.
About the Mastercard Foundation
The Mastercard Foundation works with visionary organisations to enable young people in Africa and in indigenous communities in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work. It is one of the largest private foundations in the world with a mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to create an inclusive and equitable world.
The Foundation was created by Mastercard in 2006 as an independent organisation with its own Board of Directors and management.
In Ghana, after more than a decade of working with the private sector and government to promote financial inclusion and education through its Scholars Program, the Mastercard Foundation launched Young Africa Works, a 10-year strategy to enable 3 million young Ghanaians, particularly young women, to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030.
Young Africa Works in Ghana aims to:
- Enable the growth of women-owned enterprises through business development services, access to finance, and access to markets.
- Enable young people to acquire skills that are needed by businesses in growing sectors of the economy, and strengthen the quality of education to prepare students for the world of work.
- Scale digital training and strengthen technology-focused employment opportunities.
EdTech Monday is one of the initiatives of the Foundation’s Regional Centre for Teaching and Learning in ICT, aimed at leveraging technology to advance teaching and learning.