Not all schools in Upper East Region are benefitting from govt’s free Wi-Fi – NAGRAT

It would be recalled that in the runup to the 2020 general election, the NPP promised to “collaborate with the private sector to provide free WiFi coverage to senior secondary schools and tertiary institutions.”

This was contained in the NPP’s 2020 manifesto. Parts of the manifesto continued to say, “contracts [have been] awarded to provide free Wi-Fi connectivity to all 722 SHSs, 46 Colleges of Education (CoEs), 16 Regional Offices, and 260 District Education Offices.”

But it turns out that almost 2 years after the promise was made, not all schools in the Upper East Region have benefited from the project. This is according to the National Association of Graduate Teachers’ (NAGRAT’s) Upper East Regional Chairman, John Akunzebe.

“There’s one thing providing those facilities and there’s another thing ensuring that they work. Are they working? They are not. You have provided them but are they working? They are not. Also, not all schools have been provided.”

“If you go to the Regional Education office, I can tell you that the Wi-Fi there is not working properly. It can be on for one week and off for one month. Is that how we want it to work? How will we go forward?”

In Mr. Akunzebe’s opinion, the government must all seek to expand the Wi-Fi connectivity to all Junior High Schools across the country as well.

“They are thinking of only SHS, Regional and District Education Offices but what about the basic schools? We also do ICT right? But some schools do not even have computers. Teachers have to use their own laptops to teach ICT.”

“My school, for instance, we do not have computers and yet every year, we do a school census. They ask us what our challenges are. We put them there but it is not coming,” Mr. Akunzebe added.

Earlier, he commended the NPP government for quickening the promotion process of teachers with the Ghana Education Service (GES).

It would be recalled that in the run-up to the 2020 general election, the NPP, through the 2020 Manifesto, promised to “ensure teachers who upgrade their qualifications and skills are promoted promptly and their salary increases take immediate effect.”

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana