The Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has announced that the distribution of the first batch of 450,000 free tablets to students under the Smart School Project will commence this week. These tablets are fully funded by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
Dr. Adutwum highlighted that the distribution process has been meticulously organized into three phases to ensure the effective delivery of 1.3 million tablets to specified schools nationwide. The initiative, under the Smart School Project, aligns with the government’s digitization agenda for all sectors across the country.
He explained that the initial 450,000 tablets represent approximately 30 percent of the total, and the deployment will occur in three phases. The first phase will reach 32 schools in all 16 regions of the country. Dr. Adutwum emphasized the importance of a monitoring system to ensure efficient distribution, with a dashboard tracking the arrival of tablets at each school.
The Minister stated that plans are underway to gradually phase out textbooks by integrating their content onto the tablets. ICT coordinators in schools have been providing training to teachers, and this training will continue as schools receive the tablets to ensure their effective usage.
Responding to concerns about the project being a misplaced priority, Dr. Adutwum clarified that the investment in tablets is essential and separate from logistical challenges faced by the Free Senior High School (SHS) program. He emphasized that funds allocated for the tablet project under the government’s digitalization agenda cannot be diverted to address feeding challenges within the Free SHS program.
Dr. Adutwum also corrected misconceptions about the cost of the tablets, stating that each device costs $250, contrary to claims that the unit price was GHS250. Therefore, the first batch of 450,000 tablets will amount to 112.5 million dollars.