‘1-teacher, 1-laptop policy’ may turn out like failed RLG project – Teacher groups

Two teacher groups have kicked against the government’s ‘one teacher, one laptop’ policy, citing a lack of transparency and quality.

The groups, the Innovative Teachers Alliance of Ghana (ITAG), and the ‘All Teachers Alliance Ghana (ATAG), are also against the cost-sharing module in the policy.

Teachers will be expected to bear 30 percent of the cost, while the government pays 70 percent for the laptops that will be provided by KA Technologies.

But at a press briefing, Stephen Ayensu, the Founder of the Innovative Teachers Alliance, insisted that “it is the responsibility of employers to provide the tools needed by teachers to work.”

The groups are also worried that “the price of the laptops keeps changing like a chameleon.”

Mr. Ayensu noted that the prices teachers are expected to pay ranged between GHS 549 and GHS 509.

“What was the actual amount executed before KA Technologies started executing the contract,” they asked further.

The policy has also been criticised for a lack of transparency by the Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Education Committee, Dr. Clement Apaak.

Dr. Apaak was concerned that the government has been unable to provide clear explanations on the total cost of the laptops and the number of beneficiary teachers.

In addition to transparency concerns, Mr. Ayensu questioned the quality of the laptops.

He described them as substandard and said they could not be used effectively to teach.

“Teachers prefer Dell, Lenovo, Apple, Toshiba, Acer, Samsung, and other brands just like parliamentarians love Toyota V8 cars because what is good for the goose is good for the gander.”

According to him, teachers feel insulted that the government has resorted to “a local company with no track records in manufacturing laptops after the RLG debacle.”

“Since the laptops were substandard, almost all of them [RLG laptops], broke down within a short time,” Mr. Ayensu added, reminding of the government’s distribution of RLG laptops.

In 2010, RLG was contracted by the government to manufacture and distribute over 100,000 laptops to schools across the country.

Source: CNR