Dadebo stresses the need for teaching ICT in schools

Story: Tim Dzamboe, Ho

The director in-charge of Information Communication Technology (ICT) at the Ghana Education Service(GES), Reverend Emmanuel K Dadebo has stressed the need for a systematic plan and strategic commitment to the teaching of ICT in schools.
This he said will usher the younger generation into the appropriate orbit and clear understanding of the stakes and challenges of the ensuing 21st century.
Rev. Dadebo was delivering a paper on the theme, “Transforming Schools through e-learning” at the first Volta Region heads of schools summit organized by “E-Toys and More” company at Ho last weekend.
He said the use of technology is not an end to itself but must be harnessed to improve creativity and facilitate digital inclusion and that there must be room for total cost of ownership to embrace regular servicing arrangement and transparency.
He said the challenges on multimedia evolution were enormous adding that so much information was coming out such that it had been estimated that new information coming out in the previous 30 years was more than what had been received in the last five centuries.
Rev Dadebo noted that today’s pupils were ready to learn on electronic (e)-media than dealing with books and that the change in learning styles had therefore been wrongfully interpreted as laziness and accused children of today as not learning.
He advised school authorities to choose appropriate options that will not strangle their resources saying that, “the earlier we apply ourselves to modern trends the better”.
In an address read on her behalf, the Volta Regional director of GES, Mrs Olivia Sosu said there was the need for schools to be transformed through technology with e-learning for a massive way forward.
She said e-learning guaranteed universal acquisition of knowledge and saves the cost on studying and passing the requisite examination without necessarily buying books and other materials or shuttling between the home and school.
Mrs Sosu therefore said the focus now was to adapt to new and existing technologies to appreciably enhance the learning experience of pupils with the view to adding value to schools.
In a welcoming address, the executive vice president of E-TOYS & MORE, Mrs Theresa Sackey said the summit had taken place at a time when the nation was preparing to host the third international conference on ICT for development education and training in May.
She said the summit provided a unique forum to gain access to the important global trends in education in order to help them produce the necessary changes for better results in education.
Mrs Sackey said the scope of the company covered modern teaching and learning resources, fully financed e-learning centres, schools management solutions and integrated curriculum for schools.
Others are, school buildings and expansion solutions, schools SMS solutions, interactive electronic whiteboards, pre-school furniture and schools photocopier solutions.
The sponsors were Ghana Leasing Company, Africa Online, Computer 4 Kids, Sedco Publishing, SMSWEB, Kwikspace and e-learning.