Gov’t smart schools project is a political show-off policy – Gyetuah

The National Director of Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS), Mr Enoch Gyetuah says the Ghana Smart Schools Project launched by President Akufo-Addo is not a national policy but a political show-off policy,

In an interview with Onua FM monitored by Thisterm.com, the Private Schools Council Director said the project is ill-advised and wasteful as it is skewed to divert resources from addressing fundamental deficiencies within the educational system.

Expressing disappointment in the government for habitually exempting private schools from educational policies, he wondered why it would prioritize such a program in light of the prevailing challenges faced by many schools across the country.

Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah also raised questions regarding the logistics and maintenance of the students mate (SM) 1 tablets, particularly in the face of infrastructure deficits and a lack of internet connectivity in some of the schools.

“We know that these gadgets might come with an already installed programme, but how is it going to connect with other schools with network challenge? This is a political year so you could see that the policy is not a national policy but a political show-off policy, he said.

In a related development, the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum says the introduction of students mate 1 tablets forms part of the government’s attempt in the future to phase out textbooks by infusing them into the electronic devices.

In a discussion with JoyNews, he said about 450,000 tablets will be distributed to students in government second-cycle schools across the country next week. He clarified that the unit price for each tablet is $250, and not GHS250.

The distribution of the electronic device to prospective students, under the Ghana Smart School Project (GSSP), Dr Adutwum said is part of the government’s measures to ensure that all sectors of the country are digitised.

“The 450,000 is a little less than 30 %, the deployment is such that it is in three phases. The first phase which is hitting the regions and schools in the next coming week, is going to 32 schools in the 16 regions,” the Education Minister said.