Ghana: Government Signs MoU for Digital Accessibility in Education
August 01, 2018
The Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Education has signed an MOU with Real Studios Limited, an Information Technology company, to implement the Digital Education System (DES).
The initiative combines hardware, software and digital media to transform the educational sector from analogue to a digital one which is more accessible, using electronic reading devices backed by internet systems to offer digital books, audio books, video tutorials and interactive educational materials. This is being undertaken in an effort to support the government of Ghana's free education policy, by providing quality educational materials readily accessible to every student in the country, irrespective of their status, geographical location or infrastructural limitations.
The DES or Digital Classroom is designed to make education accessible to all Ghanaians from the urban areas to the very remote rural areas. It aims at providing world-class learning experience to students all over the country through a series of electronic devices and software systems designed from ground up as learning tools that connect teachers, students, schools, publishers and the Education Ministry on one platform. It enables students carry and access an entire library of books from nursery to university on a single device that can fit into their pockets. It also provides teachers with the ability to send lectures and notes to students all over the country.
This initiative is being introduced to further enhance education in the country by addressing the challenges associated with accessing quality educational materials and engaging students in extra curricula activities whiles they are at home. Through the Digital Classroom, students can access unlimited educational materials and also do research. It also provides 'Out of Classroom' learning using interactive virtual lessons to enable students learn outside the classroom at their own pace and preference. The system expands the limits of the classroom and traditional teaching by enabling teachers create lessons and lectures that can be accessed remotely by thousands of students nationwide, expanding the learning experience beyond the scope of the classroom.
The initiative also introduces localized vocational and industrial training modules to train not just the formally educated but also the informally educated, using audiovisual tutorials created in the various local dialects to train the workforce needed for Ghana's National Industrialization agenda.
As part of its implementation, a pilot study is to be undertaken in five districts to test the feasibility of the system in a typical Ghanaian classroom before full-scale nationwide implementation. This is to adapt the system's core technologies, reading devices, web systems and content distribution platforms to the local infrastructure. The pilot test is to demonstrate the system as a non-distracting classroom tool whiles assessing students and teachers ability to utilize the system effectively. These are all aimed at identifying and addressing obstacles and evaluating the socio-economic impact of the Digital Classroom prior to its national rollout by the Education Ministry.
The DES is an initiative spearheaded by Real Studios Limited, a wholly owned Ghanaian Information Technology Research and Development company that is building world class technologies for Africa.
Source: All Africa