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The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, says it is surprising that the Ghana Education Service does not have a system in place to automatically remove ineligible persons from list subscribing for “One Teacher Per Laptop Project”.
The GES, through its Ashanti Regional Director, on August 30, 2021 issued a directive to its District Directors to validate and update submitted list of subscribers of the laptop by August 31, 2021.
The directive follows information the service received that “names of persons who do not qualify, including non-teaching staff and retired or separated staff” were added during submission of the list of interested persons in the Ashanti Region.
Mr. Asare responding to a question in relation to the issue stated that the GES should rather have a system that automatically detects and deletes the names, and that such deficiency in their system is surprising.
“I am surprised that there is no system that automatically would delete any ineligible name in the list of distribution for the laptops.
“The GES being an employer should readily have their staff IDs available. So if you ask the District Directors to submit the list of teachers who are opting for the package and the list arrives, you should have a system to automatically delete all ineligible members from the list,” the Education Watch Director said on Starr FM.
The One Teacher Per Laptop Project
The project is an initiative by Government under the New GES ICT Policy to promote the use of technology to enhance education and development in the country.
Per the arragament of the government, 280,000 laptops are to be procured and distributed to teachers across the country with the teachers bearing thirty percent (30%) of the cost.
Teacher Associations disagreement
Though associations like GNAT, NAGRAT and some other known bodies have accepted the offer, a group calling itself “Innovative teachers” kicked against it on premise that if the initiative was a government one aimed at equipping the teachers, then it must be offered for free instead of apportioning 30% of the cost to the teachers.
Among other issues, the group also raised concerns about the quality of the laptops which is to be produced by the TM1 Brand.
“The TM1 laptops are of doubtful quality just like the RLG laptops. There are no parts on the market to replace them when any part needs to be replaced and as a result it will not last long to deliver the purpose for which they were procured” a statement by the group’s secretary Christian Aidoo issued on March 10 this year said.
