Gov’t to distribute 400,000 laptops to schools

Dr Edward Omane Boamah, the Minister of Communications, said on Tuesday the government would in two years distribute 400,000 laptops to schools and students to help empower students in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Dr Boamah said this at the 5th ICT Conference of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Accra on Tuesday.

The three day conference is on the theme: “Mobile Service that empowers vulnerable communities” and 350 participants from five continents were taking part in the conference.

He said, "We cannot do away with ICT in this world we find ourselves in and the government is committed to ensuring that ICT drives the economy to a middle income status".

The Minister said the population of the nation and the world at large kept increasing with an increase in human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels by vehicles with serious climatic consequence leading to storms, floods and global warming.

He said the variability could be managed with the aid of ICT to reduce the impact of climate change and that the government was providing the relevant environment to facilitate that.

Dr Boamah said the on-going government fibre optic project from Ho to Bawku would increase access to ICT in the eastern corridor of the country.

He said the government would facilitate the creation of a hybrid broadband-fibre optic system with the aid of the six mobile companies in the country to help bring ICT to the reach of rural communities.

He said the government would set up a call centre within Accra where disaster related issues would be reported for prompt attention.

Madam Carol Bothwell, CRS Chief Knowledge Officer, said ICT offered unprecedented opportunities to improve "our lots in all areas of human endeavour".

Madam Lisa Washington-Sow, CRS Ghana Country Representative, lauded the Government for using ICT as model tool to promote the development agenda of the nation.

She said it was estimated that in Africa more than 60 per cent of adults had no ICT knowledge and it is their vision to bring on board all people in Africa to have adequate ICT knowledge.

“ICT has made health care systems, banking, education and other industrial activities enjoyable and stress free so we hope to achieve same in Africa with Ghana being the headline,” she stated.

Paul Townsend, CRS Coastal West Africa Regional Director, said the developing world; especially Africa was lagging behind the rest of the world in the use of mobile phones and this has to change.