Some 4,000 teachers of basic schools in the Upper East Region who underwent training in Information Communication Technology (ICT) organized by the government have started receiving laptop computers as part of the package.

The training was aimed at empowering them to teach school children ICT.

Government with the intention to enhance teaching and learning of ICT in deprived schools in the country introduced the Teacher Laptop projects where teachers in some deprived areas across the country were trained.

Presenting the 2, 275 laptops to teachers at the Regional Coordinating Council, which coincided with the launching of the 21st annual Conference of Directors of Education (CODE), in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, Mr Daniel Syme, appealed to the teachers to impart the knowledge acquired to the school children.

The Minister assured the teachers who had not received theirs that plans were far advanced to provide them with laptops to enhance the teaching and learning of the ICT.

The acting Regional Director of Education, Mr Emmanuel Samba Zemakpeh said ICT was the engine to the technological development of today’s world.

He said that hitherto students in the Region who had no knowledge in ICT were forced to write it at the Basic Education Certificate Examination with their counterparts from the southern parts of the country who had been taught in that area.

The acting Regional Director expressed the optimism that with the training and the provision of the laptops to teachers it would bridge the gap of education between the north and south and reiterated the need for the teachers to work hard to realize that dream.

Mr Gregory Amoah, the Bolgatanga Municipal Director of Education, who chaired the occasion, appealed to the government to ensure that adequate preparations were put in place before introducing a new policy or programme.

He expressed regret that ICT was made compulsory for schools across the country without taking into consideration the human resource base in that area, and this affected performance of many students, particularly those from the northern part of the country.