Providing free WIFI in SHS whiles rules prohibiting the use of mobile phones are not abolished
Deciding to provide free WiFi in SHS is commendable but the Ghana Education Service rules in force prevents students from having and using mobile phones in second cycle schools. Students have always sneaked in these devices and will continue to do that until government evolves a new set of rules that permits their ususage to some extent.
This old fashioned rule came under fire during the lockdown when COVID-19 was making waves across the world and our students were migrated onto online lessons on icampusgh among others. This brought us face to face with the reality of the need to integrate IT into our education systems and make it a part of the process.
It is sad that, IT is examined at the JHS even in the face of poor IT infrastructure in many schools at the basic school however, at the SHS, it is learned and dumped along the way and no form of formal examination is written at the SHS as part of the subjects students take after their three years of study.
With the intention of government to make WiFi services accessible to students at the Senior High School, one wonders what the intent is apart from students and teachers accessing it for their research and other educational purposes.
Read: Abolish the mass promotion of learners in Ghana’s Pre Tertiary schools
IT continuous to evolve and set the pace for trends in education across the globe and COVID-19 was good enough to expose countries that have failed to go digital with education and Ghana was caught up in the web of unpreparedness.
The lessons we have learned as a nation to retool our IT infrastructure in schools at all levels are not visible although government’s decision to offer Free WiFi at the SHS and Tertiary level are proactive, the real beneficiaries are likely going to be the well-resourced secondary schools and not those stuck in the hinterlands.
Today, the GES and the Ministry of Communication are to roll out the free WiFi service in our second cycle institution in October 2020.
Although the old laws are still active, the government has gone ahead to announce the free internet service. Is this a 2020 general election strategy to coax us or it is for the intended purpose?
In August this year, the vice president revealed that the next administration of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will provide Senior High Schools and tertiary institutions across the country with free WiFi however, the government has decided to do that next month.
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said this was to boost learning among students and broaden the scope of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) education and research.
The first beneficiaries at the SHS will be Form 2 Senior High School (SHS) students who are to return to school from October 5 to December 14, 2020, to complete their academic year.
If the government wants to implement this, it must revise the rules against the use of mobile phones in schools.
New rules that reflect the changing dynamics of technology must be put in place and the infamous covid-19 must be guiding issues as be develop an IT friendly learning environment that tolerates all the positive and negative implications of free access to WiFi in second cycle schools.
The government is also yet to come out with modalities that will govern the WiFi operation.
As to whether it is going to be free for all so that students can access it on campus on their personal devices or it will be made available to the schools for online learning in a regulated manner, one cannot tell.
The earlier Ghana Education Service lifts the ban on the use of mobile phones and related electronic gadgets that run using the internet the better.
In addition, the kind of access to be provided students in SHS must be made known and clear ahead of reopening of school.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Source: Wisdom Hammond | Leadership Expert, Educator and Freelancer
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