The Minister in charge of Communications, Honorable Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has revealed that, her ministry is working with the Ministry of Education in setting up a digital learning management system for all public tertiary institutions in Ghana.
She indicated that, due to the implementation of the free senior high school policy, there has been a significant increase in the number of free senior high school students. This will reflect an increase in the number of senior high school graduates who will like to pursue a tertiary education.
She said this move is to help the tertiary institutions absorb the increase in the number of qualified applicants, as a result of the implementation of the free senior high school policy by government. She explained that, the blended learning system to be introduced will be a combination of virtual learning and the traditional way of learning.
Again, she stated that, all public tertiary institutions will be equipped with the needed resources, in order to operate distance education. This she said, are all in the bid to enable these tertiary institutions admit the large number of qualified applicants they receive.
“At the tertiary level, we recognized that, because of the increased numbers of qualified entrance into the institutions, they will have a challenge, they won’t have all the physical infrastructure to be able to accommodate them. So we are working with the Ministry of Education to set up a learning management system for all public universities, to enable them provide distance and blended learning so that they can have the platform on which they will be able to deliver that.”
She also touched on the availability of free WIFIs on public university campuses. She mentioned that, there has been an improvement in the internet speed on these campuses for the purposes of research and smooth academic work.
Madam Ursula further indicated that, lecturers and researchers will also be given a fast internet network to assist them in their research work and lecture.
“We’ve improved the network; there is free WIFI on the campuses. There is this network, Ghana Academic Research Network (Garnet), which the Ministry of Communications is supporting to provide high speed internet access for research purposes for all their membership, which is all their lecturers and researchers in the tertiary institutions.”
She again disclosed that, her ministry has started a project called the Rural Telephone and Digital Inclusion project. She explained that this project is going to help link the millions in the rural areas, to fast voice and data network so they can also have access to the digital services being put in place.
“We’ve just started the Rural Telephone and Digital Inclusion project. This is connecting over 3 million people around the country in very small rural communities, to a high-speed voice and data network. This will enable everybody living anywhere in the country; have access to the digital services that we are putting in place.”
