The ‘one student, one laptop’ pledge made by Bawumia is questioned by GNAT.
The ‘one student, one laptop’ approach has drawn criticism from Reverend Isaac Owusu, president of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT).
He claims that the government’s inability to carry out the “one teacher, one laptop” policy has raised concerns about upcoming laptop-related regulations.
“The government’s will to uphold its choice to comply with the laptop’s requirements is a problem. The government is expected to give textbooks for the new curriculum at the primary, JHS, and even includes the secondary schools, if you look at even the basic school right now,” he stated.
He revealed that certain necessary texts for elementary schools have not been provided for by the government as of 2019.
Rev. Owusu continued by saying that training for teachers is still needed to allow them to introduce a new curriculum in the primary schools.
“Since 2019, the Ministry of Education and GES have been unable to provide all textbooks at the primary and KG level, spanning from KG1 to class six. Although instructors have not yet received training to begin implementing the new curriculum, the JHS level will also begin.
“Now the teachers who will be instructing the children in 2021, the vice president launched the one teacher, one laptop policy, now the promise was that teachers at the pre-tertiary level, that is from KG to secondary school, were to receive laptops within one year,” he said.
“But while I’m speaking to you right now, the elementary school teachers and the administrative instructors haven’t yet received the laptop. So some of us should be surprised that those implementing the new curriculum haven’t yet received laptops, and then you leave those people and announce that you’re moving to the next level, secondary school, where we’ll be giving each student a laptop for their first and second year, he said on Accra-based TV3.
Before making new promises, he believed that the government should concentrate on delivering on past commitments and meeting a few fundamental but important requirements.
In Senior High Schools across the nation, computers will eventually take the place of textbooks, according to the government through the Ministry of Education.
Speaking at the Hohoe Evangelical Presbyterian Senior High School’s 60th anniversary celebration, Dr. Bawumia said that textbooks and other educational resources will be placed on the laptops to be utilised in class beginning on May 27, 2023.
The project, which will only be for the first and second years of secondary schools, will be put into place by the end of 2023, according to Dr. Bawumia.
On social media, individuals have been responding to this ambitious idea with a flurry of enthusiasm, scepticism, and worries about its execution and its effects on pupils.