Government of Ghana has commenced its 1 Teacher 1 Laptop Initiative in collaboration with Teacher Unions to distribute laptops to all teachers in public schools across the country.
Inaugurating the initiative dubbed, “1 Teacher 1 Laptop”, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia stated that, the project is to help improve quality of education.
“This initiative in collaboration with the Teacher Unions is to support the vision of Ghana Education Service of creating and enabling environment to facilitate teaching and learning,” he said.
He indicated that teachers will bear 30 per cent of the cost while government absorbs the remaining 70 per cent.
“This is novel in our educational service delivery thus, far in the history of Ghana. Government pays 70 per cent cost of each laptop while teachers pay remaining 30 per cent,” he pointed.
Stressing that the initiative is very important to the Akufo-Addo government, the Vice President noted that effective teaching and learning is critical to developing the human capacity for work, innovation, and creativity.
“Globally, we know that the world is entering the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is highly dependent on information technology. Today, we know that the amount of knowledge and resources for the purposes of teaching that are available on the internet is just phenomenal and therefore, one of the best ways to equip our teachers, is to make those resources and knowledge available to them as well.
“Ghana cannot be left out and today’s event further attests to the government’s commitment to the cause of education. Under the ‘One Teacher One Laptop’ programme, each teacher at every level of education from kindergarten to Senior High School, will receive a laptop,” he said.
He further commended all teachers in the country for their dedication and sacrifices in educating the next generation.
“Many of us here today, are products of your sacrifice and can testify to your indispensable role in educating our children.
“Teachers as we all know are the indispensable pillars to this necessary capacity building and I take this opportunity to commend and appreciate all teachers across the country for their dedication and sacrifice to this noble profession” he added.
The Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum who was also present at the launch said, the provision of laptops for teachers, forms part of government’s digitalization agenda.
“Teachers are going to get the opportunity to begin to practice what we have been preaching about for a long time. A teacher who is equipped with the requisite ICT tools to embark on teaching duties in the 21st century perspective” – the Minister said.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of Ghana Education Service, Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa also assured teachers that the laptops will be equitably distributed to all teachers starting from Senior High School.
