Opoku Ware SHS becomes the first Smart School in Ghana

Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti region, is home to Opoku Ware Senior High School, which has recently been dubbed the nation’s first smart school after Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia dedicated a new classroom block that included digital tools like computers, smart boards, and internet access to make learning easier.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who introduced the project in March of this year, is honored by the name of the smart block. Yesterday, Vice-President Bawumia, who has been in the area for the last three days on a campaign visit, officially opened the facility and called it historic.

“Ghana is among few countries in the world where government supplies students with tablet computers to ensure the future does not elude our children,” he said. Dr Bawumia was accompanied by some Members of Parliament, senior party officials and education managers.

Background

President Akufo-Addo launched the Ghana Smart Schools Project in Accra on March 25, this year, and said existing facilities in public senior high schools were to be transformed into smart schools while new structures would be built for schools in some areas.

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Free computer tablets will be distributed to students as part of the project to aid in their education. Under a different agreement, laptops would also be given to Ghana Education Service employees and teachers to support research, instruction, and learning. Textbooks and other educational resources have been downloaded to the tablets and laptops.

Digital age

The Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, said at the presentation event that “Ghana cannot be left out of the digital age”. “Ghanaian students must face the fourth industrial revolution with a sense of pride and a mindset for growth,” he said to a cheering crowd of students.

The Headmaster of the school, who is also the President of the Conference of the Heads of Assisted Schools (CHASS), Rev. Fr Steven Owusu Sekyere, pledged to put the smart devices to good use.

Context

The free electronics are intended to help 1.2 million students enrolled in public senior high schools nationwide. In accordance with various project distribution phases, several schools have already given the tablets to their kids since the distribution started in March of this year.

In the schools that would benefit, the project aims to improve and strengthen quality delivery and results. The government announced earlier this week that it intended to introduce the Free SHS Act as a law to support the initiative.

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