I.C.T IS A CHALLENGE TO TEACHERS IN GHANA

Why is I.C.T is a challenge to teachers at urban and rural areas in Ghana ?

THREE PUPILS SHARING A COMPUTER

 

Research shows that I.C.T is a key to development. Hence every developing country needs the teaching of I.C.T in their educational curriculum. Ghana is not an exception.

 

In an interview with a cluster of international I.C.T Coordinators (JOCV) and other Educationists , this is was revealed : 

 

 

"Firstly, let me introduce myself and what I am doing in Ghana.  I am a volunteer of  Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).  I am dispatched to Dompoase, Adansi North District, in Ashanti Region.  My Recipient agency is Ghana Education Service in Adansi North District.  I am working as an ICT Coordinator in  Ghana working with pupils and teachers in public Primary and Junior High schools in Adansi North District.

 

As  my assignment, the main objective is to help improve  ICT teaching skills of teachers and learning skills for pupils/students .

Most of  the schools don’t have computers and electricity. A great worry is that some teachers have been teaching ICT without computers.  There is the need to introduce improvised TLMs using cheap local materials for effective teaching.  Some schools have laptops supplied by the government while others were given by donors .  But overwhelmingly the quantity of computers available for practical teaching and learning  is very few ( most computers are either broken down or in bad condition).

 

Besides of this, there is another problem.  In Ghana, there is too much blackout (electricity power cut).  Sometimes it is possible to observe 12 hours blackout! Of course, schools do not have generators even if they have computers, they have to give up to use them due to blackout. Also electronic /electricity condition is unstable as in observing low current(voltage) situations.  In addition to this, the consistent 'on and off'  (boot and shutdown ) to  the computer can damage the power supply unit or the motherboard.

 

At a point in time when Japanese researchers came to Ghana from Japan and visited one of the Primary schools in Akatsi, Volta Region, they were surprised at our situation that teachers teach ICT without computers. Wow!  Amazing !  They said that the situation is worse than expected.  This is because ICT subject should include practical activity.  How can we teach ICT in practical?  It’s nearly impossible to teach without computers.

 

A fundamental solution in above problem is so difficult, but we can try to contrive for this.  Next time, I would like to mention about my TLMs using local materials."

 

I am therefore pleased  that besides the challenges , we can still make teaching of ICT interesting and attractive through innovative minds. Join us as we share innovative minds.

Stay tune and get connected as we learn more.

 

 

Credit : Yui Sasaki (JICA Volunteer) &

             Sam .A. Duodu