MoE discloses date to distribute ‘free tablets’ to Free SHS students

In a bid to improve education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister for Education says plans are underway for the government to distribute more than 1.4 million free tablets to students in government Senior High Schools in April.

Speaking at a Speech and Prize Giving Day of the Wesley Girls’ Senior High School, he said the move forms part of the Free Senior High School program to help improve teaching and learning in the various public Second-cycle schools.

“I am happy to tell you that within the next two months, every single student in this school will have a tablet computer. We are building a learning management system, so all teachers are going to be trained, and you will do your homework and class activities online. So, if you have support, it should be getting more smart boards so that it will be a 360-degree smart, technology-driven environment,” Adutwum told Wesley Girls’ Senior High School students.

The Education Minister’s assurance comes after Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said the government as part of the digitization agenda this academic year will distribute free electronic tablets to all Senior High School (SHS) students across the country. 

In his address at this year’s New Year School at the University of Ghana, Legon, the Vice President of Ghana indicated the free tablets preloaded with past questions will serve as an alternative textbooks for the students.

“This year, we are on course to provide all Senior High School students with tablets which are loaded with textbooks on them for their studies. We will have past questions preloaded on these tablets that will be distributed,” Bawumia stated.

However, education think tank – Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) says it doubts the central government’s promise to supply Senior High School students under the flagship Free SHS policy free tablets this academic year.

In a social media post sighted by Thisterm.com, Executive Director of EduWatch, Kofi Asare said as of this academic year many teachers have not had their laptops, nevertheless, 1.3 million students have been promised free tablets.

“Per MoU signed in Nov 2020, 280k laptops were to be supplied to teachers in one year. By Jan 2023, two years after signing MoU, many teachers do not have their laptops; Yet, we are promising 1.3 million tablets for SHS students” he said.

In a different post, the education think thank Director suggested for the Government of Ghana (GoG) to rather use the money to procure free electronic tablets to second-cycle schools to provide textbooks for basic school students.

“In 2023, the government increased the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) budget by about 30%, but this did not cover tablets, which may cost another billion,” Africa Education Watch said in a post sighted by AcademicWeek.com.

Citing the lack of textbooks in primary schools, EduWatch Director said less than 30% of the basic schools’ textbooks were supplied last year due to financial issues as the students enter year four of the newly introduced curriculum.