Plans by govt to procure 1.3m laptops to replace textbooks in SHSs ill-informed- Kofi Asare

The Executive Director of the Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has described the plans by the government to procure some 1.3 million laptops for senior high school across the country as ill-informed.

He explained that there is no empirical backing to this move by the government, and even worse, no educational reform informs such a decision.

“We further conclude that plans to procure 1.3 million laptops for senior high school students are ill-informed. They are not backed by any feasibility studies, nor informed by any clear educational objective,” he stated.

Kofi Asare further stressed that while the introduction of technology into the educational framework of the country is welcomed, it should not be used as a replacement for the existing practices.

He explained that, for instance, it will never be possible for e-textbooks to replace the existing printed forms of such books in the Ghanaian educational sector.

Kofi Asare stressed that this new reform, which is being considered by the government, is something that has never been heard of anywhere in the world.

“Textbooks can never be replaced with e-textbooks. A laptop can never take the place of a printed textbook. It has never been so in any country, and it will never work in Ghana. And so, if government has any plans to introduce laptops, it should be within a different context, at a different time, where it probably will be a complement to printed textbooks, but textbooks on laptops i.e. e-textbooks, can never replace printed textbooks,” he added.

Kofi Asare was speaking at a press conference on the topic, “CSOs position on government’s plan to procure laptops to replace textbooks in SHSs,” in Accra.



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AE/WA