Majority of the more than 300,000 junior high school (JHS) students across the country, particularly those in public schools, have hardly touched a keyboard or mouse. And they are expected to write the ICT examination with their colleagues in the elite schools next April.
FOR the first time in the annals of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), final year junior high school (JHS) students will be examined on information and communication technology (ICT) next April. The essence of introducing ICT as an examinable subject at the basic education level is to equip the students with the requisite skills in ICT, which serves as one of the driving forces of the government’s development agenda.
Less than nine months from the maiden exam, Graphic set out to assess the level readiness by junior high schools in the country. And with Kofi Yeboah & Emmanuel Bonney in Accra, as well as regional perspectives from Victor Kwawukume in Ho, Vincent Amenuveve in Tamale and Nana Konadu in Koforidua, the discovery was a staggering state of disparity between some well-resourced urban schools and the rural huts and ‘tree unders’ which still serve as public schools for poor communities with no clue to what ICT connotes.
THE maiden ICT examination, which is supposed to be optional initially, should have been written at the last BECE in April 2010, but lack of logistics for a nationwide teaching and learning of the subject prompted the re-scheduling of the examination.
It is now scheduled to be part of papers to be written at the BECE next April, but nine months away from that date, a large number of the more than 300,000 junior high school (JHS) students across the country, particularly public schools, who are expected to write the examination, have hardly touched a keyboard or mouse or even seen a computer before. The closest many of them have come to a computer is in textbooks and on television.
From Accra through Ho to Tamale, heads and teachers of many public basic schools say “we are not ready for it now”. As a result, majority of the final year JHS students expected to write the BECE next April will not take part in the maiden ICT examination.
Their reasons? Unavailability of computers, lack of or irregular power supply and lack of teachers to teach the subject, all of which have conspired to confine final year JHS students in those public schools to oblivion, as their colleagues in private schools in mostly the urban areas, who are well-resourced in respect of logistics, power supply and teachers, anxiously look forward to writing the ICT paper next April.
ICT Policy:
The gap between developed and developing countries has been largely described as a knowledge gap, but lately, it has become more of a technological gap than anything else, considering the huge impact of ICT in turning the world into a global village in which opportunities, dreams and even fantasies are realised just with the click of a computer button. However, lack of logistics (computer and accessories), power supply and human resource in ICT have pushed developing countries, particularly those in Africa, to the fringes of the global village, thus making it difficult for them to savour the enormous opportunities that the ICT age offers.
Realising the need to catch up with development, many developing countries are making ICT a prominent feature in their development agenda. In line with that trend, the Government of Ghana has flagged ICT as a key driving force for the country's development agenda.
"ICT is a critical sector that can galvanise development in the country and therefore, should be given special attention to triumph", the Vice-President, Mr John Mahama stated when he granted audience to a delegation from the Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) in Accra recently.
The establishment of the Kofi Annan-India ICT Centre of Excellence to lead the transformation of Ghana into the ranks of the developed world via ICT, is legendary testimony to the country's commitment to that goal.
One laptop per child:
In its desire to make the ICT revolution very swift, the Kufuor administration saw good reason in the “Catch them young” mantra by introducing the “One child, one laptop” programme in which the government sought to give every child at the basic school level a laptop to enhance teaching and learning of ICT at the basic education level.
A consignment of about 1,000 laptops was initially imported for distribution to pupils in selected basic schools across the country, but that is as far as the policy has been rolled out, according to public information.
It was gathered that months after the deployment of the laptops, the computers had been kept under lock and key in many schools because, according to some of the head teachers, they were awaiting instructions from head office to use them.
Initially, the implementation of the programme itself was tampered with alleged impropriety regarding the purchase and distribution of the laptops.
In spite of the good intentions behind the programme, it has come under criticism with some critics, for instance, wondering whether it is possible for the government to provide one laptop to every school-going child.
Again, the critics find it difficult to come to terms with the implementation of the policy in the rural parts of the country many of which are not connected to the national grid. Those which are connected, do not enjoy regular power supply.
The lack of teachers with requisite skills in ICT has also been pointed out by critics as a major drawback to the implementation of the policy.
According to the Director of Teacher Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Victor Mante,15 Colleges of Education had been designated as Science, Mathematics and ICT training institutions.The first batch of 1,160 teacher trainees studying those programmes would graduate this year to be deployed to basic schools throughout the country.
Preparation for BECE:
As already indicated, the maiden ICT paper should have been written at this year’s BECE held last April, but that could not be possible due to the aforementioned challenges.
Indeed, the Director of the Basic Educational Unit of the GES, Mr Stephen Adu, admitted that the service had wanted the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to conduct the writing of the ICT at this year’s BECE, but for lack of ICT facilities in most basic schools.
"The examination could not be organised this year as a result of the inadequate deployment of ICT facilities in public basic schools. We are, however, hoping that by next year we would have enough facilities to do the examination," he said.
The Head of the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry of Education, Mr Paul Krampah, gave the assurance that the ICT examination would be written next year. However, it would be optional because not all the schools had ICT teaching and learning facilities.
Currently, the Ministry of Education is working with Intel and Microsoft to provide ICT facilities for more than 10,000 public junior high schools in the country and also train teachers for the course. Textbooks for the course are already available.
Mr Krampah said the rationale for the introduction of the programme was to equip students with the requisite skills and knowledge in ICT to prepare them for the world of work after school.
On the provision of electricity to power the computers and accessories, Mr Krampah, appealed to district assemblies to extend electricity to all the basic schools in their areas.
Public schools:
Despite the assurances and promises, it is very doubtful that many public basic schools will come on board when the maiden ICT paper is written next April.
Checks by the Daily Graphic in the Volta Region, for instance, indicate that many students of mostly public schools do not know about the introduction of ICT at the BECE and even any knowledge of the subject.
At the Ho Police Depot JHS, the Head teacher, Mr Kwadzo Deh, said his students were “not ripe” for the ICT paper because the school did not have computers or an instructor for the ICT subject.
Although he agreed that the introduction of ICT at the BECE was good, he said it was not practicable for his students to write the paper this year.
At the Akrofu-Agorve JHS, the Headmistress, Madam Olivia Dzebre, remarked, “In fact, I can’t say we are ready. You cannot start building a house from the top because we were not introduced to the subject from primary level”.
Lamenting the situation, she said there were no computers for practical work and that the only computer available was kept in a private residence, but the landlord always complained of high electricity bills, thus rendering it ineffective.
When the Daily Graphic visited the Lolobi –Kumasi Catholic JHS, the Headmaster, Mr Emmanuel Agane, said the school did not have computers although theory lessons were taught.
The Headmistress of Kpando St Michael JHS , Madam Claudia Demakpor, said the school was not ready for the ICT examination because it did not have computers, adding that the problem was aggravated by the lack of electricity.
The story was, however, different at the Volta Barracks JHS and the Ho Dome JHS whose respective heads, Mr Louis Yao Tende and Ms Martine Kudolo, claimed their pupils were ready to write the paper because they had been adequately prepared for the examination.
A visit to some public and private basic schools in the Northern Region showed that a lot more needed to be done to improve teaching and learning of ICT in the schools. While some of them have few computers, others did not have any at all.
Mr Ibrahim Abukari Danaa and Madam Suzzy Dugin both primary six and four teachers of Tiyumba Basic School, observed that there was scanty information in ICT textbooks that did not augur well for its teaching and learning.
They said many of the teachers taught the subject “in abstract” because of the non-availability of computers for practical work, and urged policy makers to organise workshops to train teachers who were expected to handle the subject.
The Headmistress of Dahin Sheli School, Madam Beatrice Iddi, stressed the need for standard computers to be provided for her school to facilitate teaching and learning of ICT.
She said although 30 laptops were donated to the school by the government, the authorities of the school were waiting for a letter authorising them to use the facility.
Head teachers of basic schools in the New Juaben Municipality were unanimous that the lack of infrastructure, as well as basic computers and accessories were posing a major challenge to the teaching and learning of ICT in their schools, a situation that could adversely affect the students’ ability to excel in the ICT paper at the next BECE.
At Srodae, a suburb of Koforidua, a computer laboratory built by the New Juaben Municipal Assembly for a cluster of schools in the area is yet to be inaugurated.Until the inauguration of the project, the students of the St Agnes Catholic JHS, Rev. Fr Lemmens Catholic JHS, Eva Marie Catholic JHS and the St John Bosco JHS will have to continue to patronise Internet cafes to have a feel of computers and, indeed, a sense of ICT.
According to the head teachers, if the lack of ICT laboratory and basic computers persisted, “the ability of our students to excel in ICT could be seriously compromised".
Private schools:
The President of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS), Mr Godwin Sowah, said he wished all the schools, both public and private would be ready before the commencement of the ICT examination.
“For us the private schools, we are ready for the examination. You know we started teaching ICT long before the government introduced the course at the basic level in public schools”, he said.
It was gathered that some of the private schools were able to establish their ICT infrastructure base through levies imposed on parents.
At the Bediako Institute in Accra, the authorities were convinced that their students would write the examination once it began.
The Principal of the school, Mr Yankson-Sackey, said even when ICT was not a course at the basic level, the school was teaching it.
“For us, we are ready. When they bring the examination today, we will write it,” he emphasised, as he walked a Graphic reporter through an ICT lesson at the school’s computer laboratory.
That assurance notwithstanding, the story in some private basic schools is totally different as the lack of infrastructures and computers is posing challenges to effective teaching and learning of ICT in some of the private JHS.
At the Carol Gray International School in Koforidua, for instance, the head teacher, Mr A. B. Amoatey, said although the school had about 30 computers and a laboratory, the school fees being charged “is not enough to support the maintenance of the computers and its accessories”.
Way forward:
Testimonies by heads of schools and teachers clearly indicate that a lot needs to be done to promote the teaching and learning of ICT, particularly in public basic schools. It is, therefore, imperative for the government to underline the promotion of ICT education with action in order to achieve results. The objective should not be to make the ICT examination optional simply because the necessary infrastructure has not been put in place. Otherwise, the purpose will be defeated because it will only be limited to a few endowed schools in the urban areas.
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