Create district ICT centres to enhance academic work - AG

Mrs Abigail Paintsil, Former Deputy Auditor General, has advocated the creation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centres in the various districts to enhance academic work at the grassroots and meet global demands.

She said it was important to provide ipads, e-books and ICT books for students offering the subject at the secondary school level to ensure quality training.

Mrs Paintsil said this on Saturday at the 178th Speech and Prize-giving day of Wesley Girls’ High School in Cape Coast.

The day, sponsored by the 1994 year group, was under the theme: “Striving to Make ICT a Tool for National and Moral Development –The Role of Stakeholders.”

Mrs Paintsil, member of the 1964 year group, said though modern life would be unthinkable without the internet, it was imperative for all, particularly the youth, to use the facility responsibly.

She said despite the fact that the internet had helped to solve difficult social, economic, political and individual problems, it had equally resulted in people committing suicide and taking part in violent activities.

She tasked parents to monitor the way their children used the internet adding: “focus on the best of ICT and teach your children internet safety,” she said.

The Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, who was the Guest of Honour, paid glowing tribute to the founding fathers and the current staff of the school for maintaining high standards.

As an old student of the school, the Chief Justice described it as a great school which had produced prominent people who had contributed towards the country’s development, adding that in the legal profession alone, it had produced four Supreme Court judges, a number of Appeals Court judges and numerous lady lawyers.

To the students, Mrs Wood said integrity was a rare commodity in life and urged them to let the values they had acquired reflect in their lives and work, adding that “where there is integrity there is less litigation”.

Mrs Betty Djokoto, Headmistress of the school, commended the old students for their support which had enabled the school to maintain academic excellence.

Touching on the last WASSCE results, she said though the results left much to be desired, it was a national trend and that 12 students scored “8As” making it the highest number any school produced.

Mrs Djokoto said the school presented 413 candidates out of which 33 were admitted to the University of Ghana Medical School, the highest number from any single school, and that a total of 158 students were admitted to that university alone.

She said the school was not left out in the national power crisis, stressing that the frequent power outages had disrupted school activities making evening study time ineffective.

The Headmistress said students were forced to use lamps which were not only harmful to their eyes but made them sleep early and that this could affect their academic excellence as well as their safety and security at night.

She said directly connected to the power problem was water, considering the location of the school on a hill which made it difficult for water to reach it, stressing that the power crisis had compounded the problem since the pumps they used could not operate without power.

She thanked members of the PTA who had consented to procure generators for the school to alleviate some of the power related problems.

Mrs Djokoto said the old girls continued to be the backbone of the school and had contributed towards its infrastructural development, adding that the 1994 year group, apart from sponsoring this year’s speech day, donated a reconstructed basketball and handball court, while the 64 year group donated a scaffolding and solar lighting systems, and four fire extinguishers for a classroom block with the 67 year group refurbishing the sickbay.

She said the 1984 year group had set up a Local Area Network (LAN) for the physics laboratory including the installation and configuration of servers and work stations as well as 13 desktop computers while the 2004 year group donated a quantity of chemicals for the science laboratories.

Ms Esther Cobbah, Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Communications Africa Ltd (Stratcom), who chaired the function, expressed gratitude to the school on behalf of the old girls for making them what they are today.

She said technology was something women were generally perceived to be uncomfortable with, but that ICT had been a powerful tool in transforming the world and urged the girls to take hold of ICT, be innovative and not just be consumers of the product but be mindful of its negatives.

She said the 1974 year group, of which she is a member, had established a foundation to cater for needy students, infrastructural improvement and teacher motivation which had been able to raise GH¢ 60,000 cedis.