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Bawumia Launches Smart Tablets for Opoku Ware SHS Students

Rexbank 7 months ago

On Wednesday, June 12, 2024, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia launched the initiative to provide smart tablets to students at Opoku Ware Senior High School (OWASS) in the Ashanti region. This government project aims to improve the quality of education and reduce the financial burden on parents by eliminating the need to buy textbooks.

Today, 500 tablets were given out to students for free. OWASS, located in Kumasi, has become Ghana’s first SMART School as part of a government plan to modernize education in 30 senior high schools nationwide.

The Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, announced this project during a visit to the school on June 2, 2024. He explained that the project would begin in two weeks, with the Vice President distributing the tablets.

As part of the SMART School project, SMART boards will be installed in ten classrooms. This project, supported by President Nana Akufo-Addo’s government, aims to enhance e-learning and digitalize the education system. Schools will receive teaching and learning management systems and digital educational content for senior high and technical vocational education and training (TVET) institutions across the country.

Dr. Adutwum mentioned that once OWASS is fully transformed into a SMART School, all academic activities, including homework, tests, exams, grading, and feedback, will be done online. Students will receive their results instantly. Other schools will also benefit from this system, as they will be able to log into OWASS’s system and participate in classes, such as chemistry.

The Minister also discussed plans to establish more virtual learning high schools in the country. These schools will allow students to register and take courses online. He highlighted the positive changes in the education sector since the Free SHS policy was implemented, which has significantly increased student enrollment in senior high schools and boosted the number of girls attending secondary school.

Before the Free SHS policy, the national student population at the senior high school level was just over 800,000. Now, it stands at 1.4 million, with 505,000 first-year students currently enrolled. The regional breakdown of SHS enrollment rates includes the Northern Region at 95%, North East and Savanna Regions at 94%, Upper East at 92%, Upper West at 89%, and Volta Region at 76%.

Dr. Adutwum assured that measures are in place to ensure more Junior High School (JHS) graduates continue to senior high school. The Free SHS policy has also positively impacted girl-child education. Previously, for every 100 boys in school, there were only 68 girls. Now, there are 106 girls for every 100 boys, reflecting a significant improvement in female student enrollment in senior high schools. Dr. Adutwum highlighted this as one of the significant benefits brought by the Free SHS policy.