This was to ensure a coordinated approach to the integration of ICT usage, promote local software development, improve knowledge and education as well as publicize authentic sources of these facilities for sourcing.
They said ICT facilities such as local software, programmes, hardware and internet connectivity were largely provided by either the private sector or individual entrepreneurs, which made access very difficult.
Again, knowledge of the existence of such facilities were limited and unknown to majority of Ghanaians, mostly those living outside the capital and cities and this has created a gap in the actualization the need for and potentials of ICT in Ghana, they argued.
Their submissions were made during an open forum to discuss the topic: ” ICT, Entrepreneurship and Business and the Youth”, as a sub of the broader topic on “Information and Communication Technology-Driven Education for Sustainable Human Development:Challenges and Prospects” for the School and Conference.
The participants noted that when an open education on where, what and how to secure information on available ICT resources, training and services were well structure, people would be encouraged to source for them without difficulty as it was presently.
They urged the government to institute stringent measures and policies aimed at speeding up the digitalization processes of its Ministries, Departments and Agencies and also at the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly levels.
This, they said, would decentralise their systems to also hasten their services and support to particularly educational institutions and entrepreneurship training in their catchment areas.
Mr Kofi Bentil, Vice President of IMANI Ghana, who was the resource person for the discussions, however advocated for positive attitudes of Ghanaians towards the use of ICT.
He said although the digital age presented huge challenges to the country’s education and businesses, the ability to succumb to them would depend largely on the ability to capitalise effectively on the obstacles to bring about change.
“We can only achieve this through the use of ICT”, he said.
He said the use of technology had become a must in the present age assessing it in terms of time, quality, cost effectiveness, efficiency and value.
Mr Bentil said the youth had inherent ICT potentials which could enable them to become movers of Ghana’s vision to attain a middle-income status if they were helped to fully develop entrepreneural and skills development to unleash these potentials for such businesses.
He said Ghana was far behind in terms of ICT usage and needed to catch up quickly with the rest of the world by “leap frogging” and using the youth as its major tool to achieve the development required.
The 65th Annual New Year School and Conference which was organised by the Institute of Continuing and Distance Education of the University of Ghana aims at creating the platform for a dispassionate discussion of how the objectives of the ICT in Education Policy could be achieved.
It seeks to look for pragmatic solutions to the challenges inherent in the education sector and how best to integrate ICT into teaching, learning, and outreach at all levels of the educational system.
The occasion therefore provided a common platform for stakeholder from divers backgrounds including parliamentarians, District Assembly Members and Civil Society organisations to discuss the how to create strong institutional collaborations to meet these objectives.
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Quelle/Source: Vibe Ghana, 09.01.2014
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