Development Economist, Dr. Michael Ayamga, has noted that the tablet distribution under the government’s Smart School Project (SSP) initiative is impractical and disturbing, arguing that the initiative cannot be described as the digitalization of school as there is no infrastructure to support the initiative.
He stated that to attain actual digitalization in schools, there must be an infrastructure that enhances speed and uniformity in the digitalization drive nationwide. He suggested that trainers will be needed to orient teachers and students on taking full advantage of the initiative.
“You have to digitize the content to ensure that all these things are compatible, to have checks and balances in them, and ensure that you can actually facilitate learning. To jump to the very last component of digitalization (tablet sharing) worries me and that is not how we do smart education”.
Dr. Michael Ayamga
Furthermore, he stated that Ghana’s development cannot rely on slogans and catchy phrases, indicating that real thought should be put into government initiatives and projects to ensure proper implementation so that the country can benefit fully from these initiatives.
Dr. Michael Ayamga indicated that the effort the government is putting into the digitalization drive of pre-tertiary schools is way behind what is expected of it. He specified that the platforms must be interactive so that teachers can monitor the actions of students on them.
Moreover, he indicated that the poor state of the country’s education sector especially at the pre-tertiary level will render the initiative useless, stating that some schools do not have access to ICT tools while others are still under trees left to the mercies of the weather.
“Let’s be honest with ourselves. Nobody is against digitizing our schools but let’s give meaning to it. Our tendency to rush into anything because there’s an opportunity for procurement…without caring about the impact on our country is problematic”. Dr. Ayamga said.
He indicated that referring to the country’s dilapidated senior high schools without textbooks and a discouraging teacher-to-student ratio is an insult to parents who are overburdened with the cost of education.
He noted that parents are paying more for alternative education due to the challenges in Ghana’s educational system.
He suggested that there must be a national dialogue on education to ensure that policies initiated in the education sector emanate from experts and geared towards improving the sector and the education of the young generation.
Ghana’s Economic Recovery
Remaking on the current state of the country’s economy, Dr. Michael Ayamga indicated that the idea that Ghana is recovering based on some projected economic rates is an impractical perception without robust scientific backing.
He indicated that Ghana’s present microeconomic indicators are disturbing, emphasizing that it is projected that the country may end the year with an inflation rate of around 27% or 28%.
“You cannot describe a sporadic or random movement in the economic trajectory as a trend. When you say rebound, it means something has hit the base and it’s now on an upward trend. I think the approach and findings here are suffering from a thorough deficiency in the methodology”.
Dr. Michael Ayamga
Furthermore, he indicated that for the country to develop, it must learn to invest, arguing that the government must invest to reduce the depreciation of capital and also increase the efficiency of the country’s capital.
He indicated that the country for some time now has recorded the lowest capital investment even in the national budget which affects growth negatively.
He stated that the corporate community is having challenges staying afloat as there is a high tax burden mounted on it by the government.
Moreover, Dr. Ayamga stated that due to the present economic state of the country and the high tax rates, the tendency of companies to move from the country and move to other production areas is high.
He indicated putting all these into perspective, it is problematic to speculate that the country is on the path of economic recovery.
Conclusively, he advised that the government must spend and invest in the right areas that will spearhead growth and development.
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