Ghana launches girls’ e-learning campaign

The Deputy Director of the British Department for International Development in Ghana (DfID-Ghana), Ms Charlotte Pierce, has pledged the commitment of DfID to working with the Government of Ghana to give all young people the opportunity of good quality education.
Ms Pierce said DfID was currently helping 120,000 girls, who had dropped out of school in Ghana, to return to primary school and over 80,000 disadvantaged girls to complete their secondary education.
She disclosed that in pursuit of its goal of helping more young people, particularly girls, to be in school, the British Government launched a programme dubbed ‘The Girls Education Challenge’ under which one million girls across the globe are to go to school and learn.
Ms Pierce was speaking at the launch of Ghana’s first interactive distance-learning project —Making Ghanaian Girls Great! (MGCubed) — at Prampram in the Greater Accra region.
Ms Pierce said MGCubed was receiving funding under the (DfID)’s Girls' Education Challenge (GEC) programme to help it address the challenges of teacher quality, teacher absenteeism and poor student learning by equipping two classrooms in every school with solar-powered computers and projectors through which real-time, two-way interactive distance lessons could occur. 
She urged all stakeholders including parents, head teachers, district, community and traditional leaders, school children and the staff of project implementation and partner organisations to work together and play their respective roles for the success of the project.
In an address, Dr Gordon Carver, MGCubbed Project Director, said the project was an attempt to use technology to achieve certain simple educational goals of attracting girls and boys to come to a classroom and learn relevant material through engaging activities, guided by a well-trained teacher.
Dr Carver stressed the need for partnership and collaboration among stakeholders to make the project a success.
Welcoming the audience to the launch, Hon. Sarhack Nartey, a representative of the District Assemby, described the project as well-targeted and well-intended.
Hon. Nartey, therefore, appealed to all stakeholders to ensure that the project was successfully implemented in order to improve the standard of living of the girl-child.
He urged the directors of the project to work diligently to overcome the challenge of internet inaccessibility.
The District Chief Executive for Ada West, Hon. Anthony Klokpah, noted that since the end of the Beijing Conference on Women in China, Women were beginning to assume their rightful positions in society.
Hon. Klokpah reiterated the need for all stakeholders to give the project their maximum support and to motivate the teachers.
The Director of Education, Shai Osudoku District, Ms Freda Koasi, challenged the facilitators to ensure that the children derived maximum benefit from the project.
In her remarks, the Chairperson for the occasion, Nana Ogyedom Tsetsewa l, advised all girls to pursue education to the highest level to improve their lives and transform their future.
It was the second of the regional launches, the first of which took place last week at Breweniase  in the Volta Region.
The primary objective of MGCubed—a pilot project which will be implemented in 72 schools in the two regions until March 2016—is to improve access for young girls in deprived communities, empower them, raise their self-esteem and enable them to catch up on lost learning and to stay in school.
The project will be delivered in six districts, namely Nkwanta South and Kadjebi in the Volta region, and Ada East, Ada West, Ningo-Prampram and Shai Osudoku in the Greater Accra region.
In all, over the two-year project period, a total of 8,000 girls and boys, including over 4,000 marginalised girls (aged 9-14 years)  will be taught basic numeracy and literacy, and receive enhanced quality education to improve their lives and transform their future.
It is being implemented by the GEMS Education Solutions—the specialist education consultancy division of GEMS Education—alongside key partners like  Aleutia, Everonn, Gem Technologies and an independent evaluator, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA).
GEMS Education Solutions works with public and private clients to transform the quality of global education and skills provision, and its services are built on the educational heritage that GEMS has been developing for more than 50 years.
From this foundation, the organisation uses its expertise and insight to deliver leadership and management solutions, school improvement, skills partnerships and education reform.
Everything done by GEMS Education Solutions is focused on making a tangible difference in the lives of learners, communities and nations, enabling students of all ages to be prepared to succeed in an increasingly competitive world.

http://www.biztechafrica.com/article/ghana-launches-girls-e-learning-campaign/8409/#.U7qCRyi-3gg

 

Ghana forging ahead with e-agriculture

By Issa Sikiti da Silva in Accra, Ghana
Since launching an internet-based platform in February this year to enable agricultural experts, farmers and community members to exchange opinions and resources, the Ghana government has been forging ahead in its quest to digitise the sector, which constitutes the backbone of the economy.
Almost every month, an e-agriculture initiative is being brought in to speed up the process and disseminate digital knowledge that would probably enhance the sector's productivity.
Just recently, the country conducted nationwide tests of an e-agriculture project to help famers get to grip with technology. At least 35 000 farmers with access to smart phones with in-built voicemail in six local languages subscribed to the platform.
Last week at the African Union summit, African leaders have vowed to 'transform' the continent's agriculture sector by committing to spend at least 10% of their national budgets on the sector.
Annually, Ghana allocates just under 10% of its national budget to the sector, which experts said is very low.
"We have the land but we are lacking the resources and expertise," small scale farmer Grace Sarpong told Biztechafrica in the capital Accra.
"I heard on radio and saw on TV how technology can help improve and transform agriculture, and I wish the government can speed up the process of implementing this e-agriculture nationwide as soon as possible," she added.
"We have been relying too much and for too long on traditional methods of farming. Our productivity is not moving forward year in year out, and we experience serious difficulties in accessing reliable information," another small scale farmer, Cecilia Arimah said emotionally.
Women are the key actors in Ghanaian agriculture, constituting over half the agricultural labour force and producing 70% of the country’s food, according to the 2011 Curtis Research report.
The government has acknowledged that about 60% of Ghana famers were facing problems to access reliable information on agriculture, but said farmers could now access agriculture-based information through a designated portal address equipped with a multilingual interactive voice response system.

http://www.biztechafrica.com/article/ghana-forging-ahead-e-agriculture/8407/#.U7qBHCi-3gg

 

Chinese Embassy provides ICT Lab for school in Volta Region

Chinese Embassy provides ICT Lab for school in Volta Region

Nana Appiah Acquaye, Accra, Ghana
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, H.E Ms. Sun Baohong, has donated an ICT laboratory to HO Bankoe Philip-Akpo Memorial Junior High School (JHS) in the Volta Region of Ghana.
Speaking at a brief ceremony to officially handover the facility to the school, the new Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, H.E Sun Baohong indicated that the gesture showed by her country points to the fact that China would continue to invest in projects to develop Ghana and expressed the hope that the gesture would further deepen the cordial relationship between the two countries.
According to Ambassador Sun Baohong China’s foreign aid and cooperation projects place more emphasis on improving the livelihood of people hence the provision of an ICT laboratory for students in the Volta Region which happens to be the first project in Ghana to be executed under the ‘China-Africa People-to-People Friendly Action,’ a programme adopted at the 5th Ministerial Conference of China-Africa Cooperation Forum in 2012.

She also introduced the sisterhood and cooperation between Chinese Ningxia Autonomous Region and the Volta Region of Ghana and wished that China and Ghana strengthen their cooperation on local governments to promote healthy and strong friendly relations between the two countries

Among her company were Togbe Afede XIV; Agbogbomefia of Asogli State and Hon Helen Ntoso Volta Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Krachi West constituency
The project supervisor Gideon Obeng mentioned 25 computers, tables and chairs, switches, routers, rack, a projector and projector screen and an 8 KVA UPS valued at GHS 80,000 as the worth of laboratory put up by the Chinese Embassy
The Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV advised teachers and students to make good use of the facility to enhance their ICT skills and commended the Chinese Embassy for their support. He asked managers of the laboratory to allow other basic schools and interested persons in the community to use the facility. Togbe Afede also tasked them to install devices on the computers to bar children from accessing ‘inappropriate contents.’

After the Ceremony, accompanied by Togbe Afede XI and Hon Helen Ntoso Ambassador Sun inspected the construction of University of Health and Allied Sciences in HO. She encouraged the contractor to firmly implement the Chinese Central Leadership’s Foreign Policies towards Africa, carry forward the Chinese spirit of hard work and plain living, strengthen interior management, build high-quality project, and contribute more to China-Ghana friendship.

http://www.biztechafrica.com/article/chinese-embassy-provides-ict-lab-school-volta-regi/8395/#.U7qBPii-3gg

Change management workshop at Kperiga presby JHS

Change management workshop at Kperiga presby JHS

PEU holds a one day change management workshop with PTAs and SMCs at Kperiga Presby JHS. Parents excited about the ICT project and ready to support it.






Cross section of parents Photo credit: Cletus Zoot 

Farmers Receive Solar Radio Sets

Twenty farmer groups across the Central Region have been presented with solar 
panel powered radio sets. This will enable them to follow an agricultural programme 
aired on GBC Radio Central at 7pm to 8pm every Tuesday. The programme dubbed "
Apowmudzin Santom" or Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato, (OFSP) is a collaboration 
between the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Radio Central in Cape Coast and Farm Radio International.

Ghana turns to technology to tame traffic

Faced with regular gridlock on the roads of the Ghanaian capital, a website has been 
set up to alert drivers to the worst bottlenecks -- fed by eagle-eyed spotters with Twitter accounts.

Ghana turns to technology to tame traffic