President Mahama's 'One Student One Tablet is a Complete Hoax'?

President John Dramani Mahama in his NDC 2016 manifesto highlights has made it clear to Ghanaians that if he gets re-elected for a further 4-year term in office as the President of Ghana, he will do away with all paper reading books in schools and rather introduce e-books. He will give every student or every child in school a free tablet to help with their studies. All their subject books will no longer be in paper form but will be on the tablets.

I do not want to spend my precious time discussing in details this confused manifesto policy by President Mahama. However, for the information of all Ghanaians, regardless of whichever political persuasion you belong to, be it known to, and understood by, you, that this intended policy by President Mahama may be feasible but it is completely not practicable.

Even in the most advanced countries, students have neither been supplied with free tablets nor been advised to purchase tablets for use as their subject reading books. They have paper reading subject books so I wonder where President Mahama obtained his idea of tablets that has been factored into his electioneering manifesto from.

Does he still take all Ghanaians for fools because they have a short memory or they cannot reason as intelligent human beings?

Let me prove to President Mahama and his NDC sycophants how his “One student one tablet with doing away with paper books” is such a stupid policy ever to be dreamt of by a President of a country, especially, of an African country.

In the first place, a tablet must be connected to the internet before it can work. Has President Mahama thought about who the internet service provider for the tablets will be? Will the individual students/pupils be paying for the internet connection or the government will bear the full cost?

Has President Mahama considered the fact that tablets need to be plugged into electricity sockets periodically to charge their batteries because when their batteries go flat the tablets will not work and that will hamper their effective use as reading or subject books?

With the incessant power outages (“dumsor”) in the country under his watch, will there be electricity to charge the tablets for them to be used as effective reading subject books as and when needed?

As said earlier, I do not want to spend time proving the hollowness of this manifesto by President Mahama. He did not think it through but just came out with it because a big mind, Nana Akufo Addo, has promised Ghanaians “one district one factory” and “one village one dam” so he, President Mahama, feels obliged to rival, equal or emulate him hence coming up with his laughably non practicable “one student one tablet” policy.

From the above little explanation, Ghanaians should treat this manifesto of his with the scorn it deserves.

Nana Akufo Addo by his two named policies is desirous to create jobs for Ghanaians and to make Ghana self-sufficient in food production for both local consumption and export. What does President Mahama aim to achieve by his?

From the following research quotation, one can understand the difficulties Ghanaian students and pupils will face should the President’s promise become a reality which of course it can’t. It emphasises that internet connection is imperative. “The N800 and N810 internet tablets can connect to the internet in two ways: through a Wi-Fi wireless router, or through a Bluetooth-compatible mobile phone. Connecting through a phone lets you use the tablet on the move, but this can be expensive and slow on some phone networks. Connecting through a Wi-Fi router can be free and very fast if you do it at home, though you do have to pay your usual broadband connection bill so that the wireless router has a connection to plug into”.

“However, almost any sophisticated computer device that features a controllable viewing screen can also be used to read e-books, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones”

I am sorry to say President Mahama is an absolute joke. Does he think he can continue to con Ghanaians all of the time with his preposterous promises? There are intelligent Ghanaians out there to analyse critically his numerous promises which are never fulfilled?

NDC and President Mahama, please come again for I am never convinced by this education policy by you. Ghanaian students/pupils will only be getting a raw deal by this tablet supply that comes with the abolition of paper reading/subject books.

Were those who suggested this policy to him not hallucinating? When the tablet falls down and the glass screen breaks or damages, who will repair it and how long will it take to get it repaired to allow the student to go back to use it? For the entire duration it takes for it to be repaired or replaced, how can the owner (the student) study?

You cannot supply schools chalks but with an election looming, you are promising tablets. Is this not curious?

Rockson Adofo