10,000 Rural Students to benefit from EDNOLABS project
As part of its Education Innovation Labs (EDNOLABS) project, TECHAiDE Global has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its partners to provide easy access to digital educational content for students and teachers in some underserved communities in the country.
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The partners included the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service (GES), CAMFED, IMPLEMENTERS, UNICEF, Helping Africa Foundation, Mest Africa and CENDLOS.
The signing of the MoU, according to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TECHAiDE, Makafui A. Prebbie, marked a significant milestone in their efforts to improve education through innovative technological solutions through ASANKA and EDUlab in the beneficiary communities.
Challenges in digital learning
It is believed that 66 per cent of school children in Ghana face difficulties in accessing digital learning due to lack of connectivity, according to the Ministry of Education’s Basic Education Rapid Risk Assessment conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at a ceremony in Accra to sign the MoU with the partners, Mr Prebbie noted that the goals of the project were to conduct evidence-based research to enhance education in the country, aiming to reach over 10,000 students and train more than 1,900 teachers, as well as establish 20 modern education labs equipped with offline ASANKA technology across 12 regions in the country, providing innovative learning environments.
Selected schools
He said TECHAiDE, in a strategic collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the University of Ghana Legon, CAMFED and IMPLEMENTERS, had so far selected 20 lab sites to serve 205 schools in 64 communities.
Mr Prebbie noted that the selected schools had been grouped into four cohorts for the first phase of the project, including three schools from the Accra cohort, 10 from the Gomoa cohort, 109 from the Bogoso cohort and 85 from the Kyebi cohort.
The TECHAiDE CEO further noted that the EDNOLABS project aimed to establish 20 innovation labs in primary and junior high schools across the country to validate and test the functionalities of the ASANKA and EDUlabs within three years, to benefit over 10,000 students.
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Mr Prebbie said at least 1,900 teachers would receive training and support to integrate technology into their teaching practices.
“There is no access to digital content in a lot of schools and it is because of the high internet cost. We are providing access to digital content without the use of the internet,” he explained.
Improving educational outcomes
In a PowerPoint presentation, Lead Research Officer at TECHAiDE, Dr Faiza Omar, disclosed that the EDNOLABS project was expected to improve educational outcomes by enhancing student performance in ICT, Science, English and Mathematics, as measured by the standardised test scores and classroom assessments.
According to her, it is also to increase access to educational resources for teachers and students through the utilisation of the ASANKA and EDUlab resources; enhance teacher capacity under the TECHAiDE certified trainers Network (TCTN); ensure data-driven decision-making through increased use of analytics from ASANKA for evidence-based decision making by school administrators; and also attract more students.
The National Director of CAMFED, Hajia Fairuza Abdul-Rashid, said her organisation is partnering with TECHAiDE to ensure the inclusion of the marginalised girls and communities in rural Ghana to be exposed to technology like their male counterparts.
“Technology is not only for the males who venture into tech learning or businesses to always do better and excel...therefore, they need access so that they can choose careers in this sector,” she said.
The Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr Eric Nkansah, who was represented by the Head of Schools and Instructions Division of GES Fakor Disum commended TECHAiDE for their visionary leadership in technology education.