Ghana ICT Policy and Plan Development Committee

The National ICT Policy and Plan Development Committee dialogued with the Western Regional Coordinating Council on Thursday 24th of April 2003 as part of the National Consultative exercise aimed at developing an ICT-driven socio-economic development policy and plan.
The meeting was attended by the MDA’s and the Directorate in the Region.

It is important for all to be educated on the need and importance of ICT to the growth and development of the economy.

Human Resource development is the key to development; there is the need to introduce ICT from the Basic school Level to the Tertiary level.

For Government policies to be fully implemented, it is necessary for the policies to consider the cultural values of the people and the need for attitudinal changes.

Non-formal education policy must also be vigorously encouraged with the provision of various infrastructural facilities for the introduction of ICT.

There must be the practical provision of energy and telecommunication since ICT depends on the availability of these. The cost of these must also be realistic to allow more people access to ICT.

The state must find a way of ensuring that all Junior Secondary School leavers acquire computer literacy before gaining admission into the Secondary level.

The policy must address the training of ICT by the small institutions and regulate the cost of training to keep it uniformed and make it accessible to all.

There is the need to promote the use of Computers and develop the needed Human Resource in all public sector organizations since these are the backbone of ICT. All public sector organizations must be interconnected for easy retrieval of information and information sharing.

Capacity building and manpower development must be recognized as an important factor in building the nations human resource.

The Government must make Computer literacy compulsory for all public and civil servants, to achieve this; the necessary funds must be made available for the compulsory ICT training in all learning institutions in the country.

The policy must be developed to regulate all Government agencies for example in the acquisition of land, the use of Geographical Information System tools etc.

Relevant software’s must be developed and learned to promote specific work-studies. Functional literacy in computers is of paramount importance.

There is the need to revise the curriculum of the educational institutions, which are needed for the development of the country.

It is important for the Government to contribute to the growth and development of the small-scale sector, the ICT policy must take the small-scale sector into consideration and develop a policy that would aid in the development of the sector.

The policy must also seek to address the high cost of computers and its accessories to make it affordable to the average Ghanaian.

Attitudinal changes need to be addressed. Employees especially Government employees must be educated on the right attitude to adopt for work.

The Governments must motivate its workers to make them more productive.