A teacher union, All Teachers Alliance Ghana, says it is unhappy with the Ghana Education Service’s decision to organize basic ICT training for teachers online.
Attracting a fee of GH₵300, the training is to aid teachers to use various e-learning resources.
The training is expected to be executed with the laptops distributed to teachers under the one-teacher one laptop initiative.
The laptops are aimed at bridging the ICT gap between teachers in urban areas and their colleagues in rural areas.
However, the Union says the decision will not achieve its intended purpose since most teachers are yet to receive their laptops.
They further indicated that teachers living in rural areas may not benefit from this training due to the lack of internet accessibility.
Isaac Ofori, President of the ‘All Teachers Alliance Ghana’ in an interview with Citi News said: “We were there and GES brought a statement indicating that we’ll be attending online training prior to the laptops that have been given to us. The GH₵300 component of the training that will be done online, the question is, how are they going to provide technical training for teachers who need to practice with the machine, how will the practicality of the technicality in the IT training be achieved.”
“Many teachers are yet to receive the laptops, so if you are going to organize online training for teachers on the laptop, the question is, those who have not received it, how will they participate. Some teachers too find themselves in remote parts of the country where internet is not fast and reliable”.
Mr. Ofori has further called on teachers to boycott the training and demand a physical session instead.
“We have realized that GES is not being fair to teachers. We have suggested to teachers that they should boycott the online training so that the original plan for in-person training should be done”.
The union has however threatened to “petition President Akufo-Addo and other international organizations to ensure that teachers are treated fairly in the country”.
