Chapter one

2007

This short Country Report, a result of a larger infoDev-supported Survey of ICT in Education in Africa, provides a general overview of current activities and issues related to ICT use in education in the country. The data presented here should be regarded as illustrative rather than exhaustive. ICT use in education is at a particularly dynamic stage in Africa; new developments and announcements happening on a daily basis somewhere on the continent. Therefore, these reports should be seen as "snapshots" that were current at the time they were taken; it is expected that certain facts and figures presented may become dated very quickly. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are entirely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of infoDev, the Donors of infoDev, the World Bank and its affiliated organizations, the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank cannot guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply on the part of the World Bank any judgment of the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. It is expected that individual Country Reports from the Survey of ICT and Education in Africa will be updated in an iterative process over time based on additional research and feedback received through the infoDev web site. For more information, and to suggest modifications to individual Country Reports, please see www.infodev.org/ict4edu-Africa.

2015

INTRODUCTIONAlthough many developing countries are pursuing a wide range of policies and programmes aimed at achieving universal elementary and primary education, access to quality education continues to hamper the achievement of the Dakar Educational Goals and Millennium Development Goals two and three - "universal primary education"; "promoting gender equality and empower women" (Gan Siowck 2000). Available evidence indicates that no adequate attention has been paid on the quality of education albeit, significant strides have been made on achieving equity and regional parity. Van Reijswoud (2009) points out that there are problems in the educational system, which requires reforms at various levels - pedagogical, curricular and institutional. Van Reijswoud (2009) argues that the emergence, acceptability and adoption of various information and communication technologies (ICTs) by society provide clear practical opportunities for enhancing quality teaching and lea...

2003

The application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in schools is perceived as a means for transforming teaching and learning processes, and has thus been met with significant enthusiasm. The developing world also perceives ICT as a tool that will promote socioeconomic, political, and sustainable development. This perception underpins the introduction of computers and the internet in some secondary schools in Ghana. This paper draws on the concept of "educational equality" and the history of education in Ghana to argue that the introduction of ICT in Ghanaian schools is likely to lead to a "digital divide" between the urban schools (haves) and rural schools (have nots) and will thus exacerbate the existing disparities in Ghana's educational system. Furthermore, the lack of an adequate policy framework for implementing ICT in Ghanaian secondary schools will likely perpetuate this inequity.

The paper reports some of the findings of Ghana’s participation in the Pan African Research Agenda on the Pedagogical Integration of ICT. The study examined Ghanaian educational institutions’ capacity for, and approach to, pedagogical integration ICTs. In all 10 Ghanaian educational institutions were sampled for the study according to given guidelines comprising three basic schools (1 public and 2 private), six public senior high schools (1 technical, 1 secondary-technical and 4 general) and one university (teacher training). The study combined document analysis and survey techniques using structured questionnaire, class observation checklists and interview schedules to collect qualitative and quantitative data which had been uploaded onto an open online observatory at www.observatoiretic.org. The results indicated that at the pre-tertiary level some attempts had been made by the Ministry of Education to formalize the teaching of ICT literacy and encourage its integration into the teaching and learning process. Nonetheless, very little integration was observed in teaching and learning in schools. The PanAf project found that most secondary schools and some primary schools have computers. A few had computer laboratories but in many of these the computers have neither been networked nor connected to the internet. The ratio of students (and educators) to computers per institution is high. At the senior high school level there was an average of about 30 students to a computer and 50 students to a computer. The results revealed that the emphasis had been on deployment of ICTs for the development of the students’ skills in operating the machines and not necessarily developing their ICT literacy. That is, in Ghanaian institutions, ICTs are not used as a “way” to learn, they are “what” is taught; that is, teachers focus on initiating new users to the basic functions of the machine. This can be said to be due to the policy implementers’ and teachers’ belief that it important to understand these functions fully before proceeding to applying them to other learning situations. In some institutions because of lack of ICT plans, a gradual decline in deployment of ICTs was observed, leading to little or no students’ hands-on experience during ICT lessons. At the tertiary level, it was also observed that there was lot of energy and enthusiasm to deploy ICT tools in faculties, but the tools are not being utilised optimally in the way the technology proponents anticipate their use in higher education. These developments were found to be due in part to the overemphasis on deployment rather than integration in the national ICT policies and partly to the inefficiencies in the design of the curricula being implemented in Ghanaian institutions. It is recommended that the Ministry of Education should review its ICT policy on education in order to halt the teaching of ICT as a subject and revise curricula at various levels to assure ICT pedagogical integration. Besides, institutions (with the support of their boards/PTAs) should be made to draw their ICT plans and ensure their implementation by making available sufficient resources for use in teaching as well as support ongoing training for teachers to model the new pedagogies and tools for learning.

International Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education

In recent times, the world has witnessed a rapid increase in technological innovations with educational institutions and homes spending considerable sums of money on computers, software, internet connections, and other technology for educational purposes (Education, U.S. Department of, 2012). These modern technologies promise to transform the traditional classroom into a digital classroom aimed at giving learners a more enjoyable learning experience (Garavaglia, Garzia, & Petti, 2013). The introduction of computers and their related technologies commonly known as Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into education ushers learners into the information era and promises to broaden learners' experiences (Mandoga, Matswetu, & Mhishi, 2013). In most developed countries, the use of computer-related technology in education is a reality. In the USA for instance, in almost every public school, computers with internet access are available for instructional purposes (Education, U.S. Department of, 2012). This is because the introduction of computer-related technologies in education has improved both teachers' and learners' skills and knowledge of ICT, promoted knowledge sharing, and facilitated teaching and learning in schools (Danso & Kesseh, 2016). Computer-related technologies are very powerful technological tools and resources in the hands of the teachers and learners which take learning beyond the boundary of the physical classrooms, support and transform it positively (Peprah, 2016). With the use of technologies,

Information and Communication Technology (ICT), is an essential aspect of the primary and secondary education system in Africa. It is a well-known fact that ICT improves the quality of learning and teaching curriculum in schools, while serving as an agent of change by bringing growth and development to the economy. The aim of this paper is to highlight the positive impact of ICT in primary schools across the African continent. It discovers that this new world order is under-utilized in schools as teachers prefer using the traditional way of teaching. The paper concludes that the governments should come up with appropriate ICT policies to improve the school systems and recommends the introduction of workshops and training for teachers at all levels of education.

The focus of the study was to ascertain the extent to which the ICT curriculum is effectively being implemented in basic schools. The aim was to find out teachers’ perception about the introduction of ICT at the basic school level; the availability of facilities for teaching the subject; teachers’ acquired content knowledge as well as their preferred in-service training methods. The study adopted a simple cross sectional survey design which employed descriptive statics for data analysis. A questionnaire was the main survey instrument. A representative sample of 63 public primary schools in the Cape Coast Metropolis was randomly selected, and all ICT teachers (84) in the selected schools were involved in the study. It was revealed that teachers had a positive perception about the teaching of ICT in primary schools. ICT facilities were woefully inadequate for the teaching of the subject in basic schools; the majority of teachers appeared to be knowledgeable in the use of computers and other peripheral devices; and, most of the teachers preferred workshops as a means of acquiring more knowledge and skills in the teaching of ICT.

2008

2019

This study examines the factors that influence ICT use in secondary schools in Ghana, the progress which the usage of ICT has brought into learning outcomes and teaching productivity as well as related challenges in Ghanaian second cycle institutions. Embedded on a quantitative method, the study used a sample size of fortysix (46) teachers and two hundred and ninety-four (294) students. A questionnaire and documentary review were the instruments used for the collection of data, drawing its conceptual foundations from e-services and supplementing this from ICT for education literature. The study indicated a positive relationship between ICT usage, teaching and learning. Thus, the more teachers and students used ICT, the better their teaching activities and learning productivity became enhanced. However, lack of adequate computers, other multimedia apparatus and constant power supply were the important performance antecedents impeding utilization of ICT in Ghanaian senior high schools...