Computers for education are duty-free - Minister

THE Minister of Finance, Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, has said that computers being imported by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other donors for educational institutions are free of duty.

He said, however, that the ministry insists that such computers must be assigned to the specific schools to ensure that they do not find their way into the open market.

Mr Osafo-Maafo, who is also the MP for Akim Oda, said this when he inaugurated a ?150 million Oda Secondary School (ODASCO) Information Technology Centre.

He announced that by the end of his term as the MP, he would ensure that schools in the constituency are supplied with adequate computers.

The minister advised the students to take their lessons in computer studies seriously reminding them that in a few years time, it will be difficult for anyone who is not computer literate to get a job.

He disclosed that the school has been selected as a district standard school and urged the school authorities to ensure that quality work is done when renovation exercise on the school?s infrastructure begins.

The Headmaster of the school, Mr Kwame Agyakwa, on behalf of the board of governors and the staff expressed his appreciation to Technology for Development Countries, the NGO that donated the 50 computers to the school.

He said considering the student population, the 50 computers are inadequate and appealed to other NGOs and the government to assist them to acquire more.

Mr Agyakwa said that the establishment of the centre had cost them two classrooms and appealed to the government as a matter of urgency to construct a new classroom block to cater for the displaced students.

He mentioned pressing problems affecting the school as deplorable conditions of dormitories, poor road network and drainage system, as well as inadequate decent places of convenience, and appealed to the ministries of Finance and Education to consider them in the allocation of renovation grants for schools.

The President of Past Students Association, Mr Amoasi Andoh, stressed the need for the school authorities to improve the quality of the level of entry into the school.