One Student, One Tablet project was launched without an approved budget - Minority claims

The Minority in Parliament has raised concerns over the inability of the government to successfully implement the Smart Schools Project, which was launched by the President on Monday, March 25, 2024.

The Ghana Smart Schools Project is designed to equip students under the free SHS policy with essential technological skills, aligning with the government’s commitment to advancing education through technology.

The government has revealed plans to distribute Smart Tablets to 1.3 million Senior High School (SHS) students nationwide.

However, the Minority has challenged the figures, highlighting that there are no approved funds or dedicated resources for the implementation of the project.

A statement issued and signed by Dr. Clement Apaak, the Deputy Ranking on the Education Committee, said the original idea behind the policy as promised by this government was to distribute the tablets to over 2.7 million students in both the senior and junior high schools.

But the project in its current state will see the distribution of only 450,000 tablets to some selected students at selected schools.

The statement from the Minority said the NPP promised in its 2020 manifesto that it would provide tablets for both students in our senior and junior high schools.

It was therefore the expectation of the minority that the government would have provided laptops to 2,780,115 students in Ghana, not the figure they have currently published.

The statement further highlighted that the government has, through GETFUND, procured only 450,000 tablets for a total of 2,780,115 students.

“It is worth noting, that no provision has been made either in the 2024 budget, or the recently passed 2024 GETFUND formula to procure additional tablets.”

It added, “This means, that a whopping 2,330,115 students in both SHS and JHS will not receive the tablets. With the 450,000 tablets being given to only SHS students, it means the remaining 881,219 SHS students will not have some; and no JHS student will have one.”

The Minority asserted that the government has failed to tell Parliament the cost of the procured tablets. “Again, it is worth noting that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has failed to tell Parliament and the people of Ghana the unit cost of the 450,000 tablets procured through GETFUND. This is clearly a government that has no regard for transparency and accountability. Even worse, it has no policy to guide the method of distribution and use of the tablets.”

The Minority is also requesting that the government explain how the 450,000 bought tablets will be distributed and what formula will be utilised.

It further requested that the government not utilise partisan means in determining which schools and kids would benefit from the 450,000 accessible tablets.

“Given, that government has not procured enough tablets to ensure that at least all SHS students get access to these tablets, what criteria will be used to decide and select which students in which schools are to receive these tablets?

Now that the government has failed to produce enough tablets to enable every SHS and JHS student get a tablet as promised, should government decide to pilot the one student one laptop programme, how will the schools be selected?

At this juncture, we are cautioning the government not to select schools based on partisan political considerations, where schools in districts with NPP MPs are selected and districts with non-NPP MPs left out.”

It further asked Ghanaians to hold the government to account and demand transparency.

“We call on Ghanaians to hold the Akufo-Addo/ Bawumia-led NPP government accountable for failing to fulfil the promise of providing ALL students in SHS and JHS with tablets, despite receiving the most revenue in the history of Ghana. With the quantum of revenue this government has been lucky to have at its disposal, from 2017 to present, it’s such a shame that it could only procure 450,000 tablets when we have 1,331,219 (1.3 million) students in SHS and 1,448,896 (1.4 million) in JHS.

"Obviously, the government has once again failed to fulfill its promise to the people. Ghanaians, as usual, can be trusted to see through the razzmatazz attached to the launching of the programme and recognize it as an election campaign gimmick.”