Teachers will soon teach from home — GNAT

Teachers will in the near future, be in the house and teach learners as manual teaching gradually gives way to Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) education in the next decade.

In view of this, online teaching and learning will soon be launched in Ghana to safeguard the human interface in teaching and learning.

The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers(GNAT), Thomas Musah dropped the hint at the end of a 3day ICT capacity building workshop for 51 teachers in first and second cycle schools from various Districts in the Western Region.

The Emergency Remote Teaching Techniques and ICT Essentials Training, a UNESCO ICT Transforming Education project in Africa developed under the UNESCO-Korea Funds-in-Trust(KFIT) framework, which supports a selected number of Sub-Saharan African countries to test scalable and effective modules of using ICT as a catalyst for institutional and systemic transformations with a view to contributing to achieving goals and targets of Sustainable Development Goal 4(SDG 4) in the beneficiary countries including Ghana.

Phase one of the project which ran from 2016 to 2019, focused on Mozambique, Rwanda and Zimbabwe with La Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal being selected for phase two.

The project seeks to improve learning outcomes and acquisition of 21st century skills such as digital literacy, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity and innovation through the appropriate use of ICT by educators in Ghana.

The project which is being implemented by UNESCO in partnership with GNAT, GES and the Center for National Distance Learning and Open Schooling (CENDLOS) through the Korean government support 51 Junior and Senior High School teachers to acquire digital skills in remote teaching to prepare them for future shocks and disruptions to teaching and learning.

Mr.Thomas Musah said Ghana's system of education needed a curriculum, content and pedagogy infused with ICT stressing that about 56% of the human capital will go waste in the next decade if ICT was not embraced.

He said recent happenings around the globe positions education in an emergency need, adding that "education cannot wait in the era of Covid-19 pandemic" hence the need for civil society organizations, NGOs to partner government to invest heavily in ICT education.

The Head of Office and UNESCO Representative in Ghana, Mr Adourahamane Diallo in a virtual message, stressed the need to equip teachers with ICT skills and challenged them to make ICT education workable in the schools.

He said UNESCO will continue to partner the ICT training of teachers to impact positively on their learners.

Mr. Diallo added that UNESCO will monitor the schools for feedback from the teachers.

The Director for CENDLOS, Mr. Gyamfi Adwabour in a virtual address also admitted that Ghana is fast gaining ground in ICT education as teachers were embracing ICT in teaching and learning.

He noted that in a Covid-19 pandemic era, ICT, online teaching was vital and pledged his outfit commitment to continue to support and empower ICT in education.

Mr. Adwabour said ICT in education is now inseparable and stressed the need to support the paradigm shift like other counties.

Participants were taken through Microsoft Word, Presentation software, Email for teaching and the use of Learning Management Systems focusing on Moodle.