Expose school pupils to computers - Gbetodeme

Mr. Edmund Gbetodeme, Ghana Education Service (GES) Volta Regional Coordinator for Guidance and Counselling has urged civil society groups to help attain the national goal of exposing every school child to the knowledge and use of computers.

He said Information Communication Technology (ICT) was so crucial for teaching and for learning that no community could afford to be left out since that subject was compulsory.

Mr Gbetodeme was speaking at the launch of an E' Learning Centre for the Housing Estates Local Authority (LA) cluster of schools in Ho, the first of its kind in a public school in the country.

E-Toys & More, an Accra based company, Ho based Bulaiza Limited, the Ghana Leasing Company Limited and the government collaborated to put up the centre, estimated at GHc 70, 000.

Mr Gbetodeme challenged communities in which schools were located, Churches, Parent Teacher Associations, Old Students and Pupils Associations and other community based groups to rally to the support of the various schools.

He said the facility had put at the feet of teachers and pupils knowledge about virtually every subject and issue in the world and was sure to ignite the learning capacity of pupils as never before.

Mr Michael Avle, E-Toys & More Head of Schools explained that an E-Learning Centre unlike the computer laboratory had software and bands that networked the computers to learning and research facilities, including a digital library services.

He said at the centres, pupils of various learning capacities had the opportunity to grasp their various subjects, while teachers could enrich their teaching notes with more information.

Mr. Goerge Sackey, Executive President of E-Toys and More said the Ho facility had opened up the doors to pupils and teachers to join the technology driven mode of education delivery now the vogue in the world.

Mr Michael Charway, who represented Mr Sackey announced that the company was offering computers and accessories to parents and pupils at good prizes to be paid for within 24 months.

Mr Daniel Kwame, Head of Primary Unit of the school, established in 1962 said the provision of the facility had broken the myth that only private schools could have access to new educational equipment.

He said the school complex would become the resource centre for all other schools in the region for the attainment of government policy of extending computer knowledge countrywide.