Government urged to cease giving out iPads to SHS students

The government has been urged by the civil organization Center for Public Opinion and Awareness (CenPOA) to cease plans to give senior high school students laptop computers.

“Despite having noble intentions, we think this effort has not been carefully considered.

We applaud the government’s prior initiative to provide laptops to every teacher in the nation because, given the technological age in which we live, teachers may need them for research and lesson preparation, but we completely disagree with the government’s justifications for providing laptops to students.

According to a statement from Michael Donyina Mensah forwarded to the Ghana News Agency, many industrialized nations with strong educational systems still require students to use textbooks as a source of knowledge.

“In actuality, there is no empirical evidence that using electronic books improves learning outcomes and is more successful than using textbooks. Contrarily, medical professionals have cautioned that prolonged computer use may result in computer vision syndrome, which presents with signs like blurred vision and eye discomfort (dry eyes, itchy eyes, and red eyes).

Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that kids will utilize these laptops solely for learning purposes without getting sidetracked. It is exceedingly doubtful whether they can keep this equipment safe from theft and harm.

ALSO READ: Vice President Bawumia has stated that the government would provide computers to SHSs with built-in textbooks

According to the statement, access and quality had been impacted by the numerous difficulties that Ghana’s educational system was still dealing with, the majority of which remained ongoing.

“Ghana’s taxpaying citizens expect the wise use of public resources, and we maintain that the government’s decision to provide these laptops to SHS students is misguided and an insult to them. There are over 5,000 schools that are located under trees, school feeding programs, and free SHS programs are all severely stressed due to financial constraints.

If the government still has money set aside for computers, we advise using it to create new computer libraries and upgrade the ones that already exist with cutting-edge hardware and reliable internet connectivity.

“The availability of such IT infrastructure, available to both students and teachers, in senior high schools is sufficient to enable research and other educational activities.

According to the statement, while switching from textbooks to laptops may seem practical now, it is not required, especially while the nation deals with a severe financial crisis and several social issues.

The Vice President revealed intentions to give laptops to SHS students. “We therefore call on the Minister for Education to halt any such plans and instead direct any such resources to addressing more critical challenges facing the education sector.”

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