Ghana needs a policy shift in educational system - Google Director

Country Director for Google Ghana, Estelle Akofio-Sowah, has admonished government to work towards guaranteeing that every Senior High School leaver has computer coding skills and ability as part of measures to secure the country’s technological prospects.

Speaking at the 3rd edition of the Africa ICT Expo 2017, Ms. Akofio-Sowah emphasized the importance of shifting from the current system where students are taught only the basics of ICT whereas the focus should be directed at training developers who will be equipped with coding and innovative skills.

“From the policy angle, one of the areas I’ve been thinking a lot about is education. My kids go to the Ghana International School which is a private fairly well off school and it amazes me that even there where we are doing the British education system, the kids are being thought what is a hard disk, what is a 3D printer, a keyboard, instead of being thought how to code and create so if that is what is being thought in GIS then I dread some of the things being thought in some other schools and again it’s everything that the kids are sought of born with and don’t need to know about.”

“I think we need a policy shift around what is the focus of education and getting a nation of developers and coders.”

She explained that for Ghana to have a paradigm shift in the digital and technological fields, we ought to channel our resources into developmental training and coding such that all students from the basic level to the Senior High School levels, even before completion are loaded with the requisite skills in coding and software development.

“If we want to position ourselves and take advantage of the problems that exist, we should just focus on coding and let anyone who leaves any level of education, everyone coming out of SHS can code and I think that will transform Ghana.”

The 2017 edition of Africa ICT Expo 2017 came off on Monday October 16 at the Kempinsky Gold Coast Hotel in Accra. The opening ceremony of the 2-day event saw hundreds of young and vibrant entrepreneurs and exhibitors in the technological field participate.

The program dubbed “Digital Possibilities – Think, build, sell” brought together a number of speakers from different segments of the country including mobile operators, regulators, consumer brands as well as industries and organizations with direct or indirect link to the mobile technology sector.

There were also varied innovative devices created and developed by young Ghanaian entrepreneurs on display.