Republic of Ghana


National ICT Policy and Plan Development Committee



The National ICT4AD Consultative Pocess

Dialogue with the Staff of the University of Ghana, Legon (UG)

The National ICT Policy and Plan Development Committee met with the Staff of the University of Ghana, Legon on the 12th September 2002 as part of the National Consultative exercise aimed at developing an ICT-driven socio-economic development policy and plan.

List of Participants

• There is the need to equip the various computer science departments in all Universities with the necessary facilities to promote the teaching and learning of ICTs at the tertiary level to enhance socio-economic development.

• To enhance deployment of ICTs within the educational sector, there is the need to sensitize tertiary institutions and get them involved in the process. The students and lecturers should play a leading role in championing the use of ICTs for socio-economic development.

• There is the need to address issues relating to the development of National Identification Card System, such that information on citizens can be retrieved anywhere in the country and at any point on the academic, social, and employment status.

• The need to deploy ICTs in the educational sector, especially to facilitate distance learning is essential. It is important for all university students to have e-mail address and access to good working computers to complete

• and submit assignments on line to make teaching and learning more effective and efficient.

• ICTs should be introduced into the Basic schools. Education must start from the grass root level and computer studies should be a pre-requisite for gaining admission to the universities.

• There is the need to develop the Human Resource base by focusing on distance learning, which in the long run can be able to assist the Nation to help train more specialists at the middle and top-level management.

• The Policy should promote the use of local experts in addressing national ICT issues by developing the necessary Human Resource base of the country and defray from depending too much on foreign experts.

• There is the need to deploy ICTs to facilitate rural trade especially to provide access to International markets; access to information, knowledge and technology.

• Consider computer literacy at the Teacher Training Colleges as a way of building a sound human resource base to start ICT programmes in the Primary and Secondary Schools.

• There is the need to establish a strong ICT policy which would ensure that the learning of ICT start right from the Basic Schools.

• It is important to demystify ICT. The teaching of Science should be made simple enough to encourage more students to take up the study of Science, practical and interesting ways must be developed in the teaching of science to make it more attractive.

• There is the need to encourage private sector participation in the teaching and learning of information technology to enable the Universities produce the necessary manpower that the industry needs. Computer Science must be made a priority.