Ghana ICT Policy and Plan Development Committee

The National ICT Policy and Plan Development Committee had a public lecture at the Bolgatanga Senior Secondary School on Thursday 22nd May 2003 as part of the National Consultative exercise aimed at developing an ICT-driven socio-economic development policy and plan.

It is important for the Policy to ensure that qualified personnel are trained to undertake the teaching of ICT in the educational institutions.

Greater awareness must be created about the need for ICT and the benefit of ICT in the improvement the economy.

There is the need to introduce the education of ICT from the basic level to the tertiary level and the subject must also be made examinable for students to attach seriousness to it.

The Government must assist in the provision of training materials to enable student’s study on their own after training sessions.

Adequate ICT instruments must be available to facilitate the development of the private sector.

The ICT policy must address the use of ICT technology at the Agricultural sector since it is the backbone of the nations export revenue.

There is the need to provide computers and qualified teachers to schools in the rural areas to help in eliminating computer illiteracy.

With the establishment of the ICT policy, the Government must continue by putting in place strategies for the development of some deprived areas of the country.

As the world has now become a global village and a world of computers for that matter, there is therefore the need to educate all and sundry of the new emergence and encourage all to get on board.

There should be the provision of open information community center and libraries equipped with computers to train the general public, especially those not in any formal education to tap their knowledge and skill for the benefit of the nation.

The Policy must address the need for the education of illiterate mothers on the need and importance of ICT so they could transfer the knowledge to their children in order to arouse their interest in ICT.

There is the need to the setting up of sub committees for the implementation of the ICT policies.

There must be available publications on computers so that student and the general public could read and understand it better.

There is the need to establish permanent infrastructure facilities for the training of experts in all the Regional capitals and district capitals in the country.

There is the need to award certificates to SSS students who are ICT literate to increase their chances of gaining admissions to the tertiary institutions.

Remuneration and other incentives, which are needed to motivate computer instructors to take up teaching in the educational institutions, must also be addressed in the policy.

In order to reach out to the majority of people, ICT programmes must be televised to aid in creating the awareness of the importance of ICT.

For Ghanaians to appreciate the ICT better the Government must subsidize the cost of computers and its accessories to enable the middle level income earner have access to a computer and the Internet.

Farmers must be educated to improve farming methods and also have access to information to improve cropping and animal rearing thereby improve the agricultural sector, which is the backbone of the Ghanaian economy

There is the need for the Government to establish state computer training and information centers to offer training at a subsided fee to enable school drop outs to have an opportunity to acquire computer skills.

The policy must take into account the health institutions; ICT facilities must be deployed in these institutions to enable Doctors identify diseases, causes and prevention using the ICT technology.