CLAIM
“Today, for every senior high school student, we have given them one tablet for free. One student, one tablet! We are the first country in the whole of Africa. We are the first country to give all our senior high school students tablets for free. We are the first country and even in the advanced nations many have not done it.”
This is a recent claim by Vice President and Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia during the Greater Accra Youth Connect campaign trail on June 5, 2024.
But has every Senior High School Student been given one tablet for free and is the claim of the Vice President true? Here is what we found?
FINDINGS
It is a known fact that government in recent years has made promises and set in place plans to distribute free tablets to Senior High Schools. Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum last October first announced that the free tablets for senior High School students were ready with distribution starting in November, the beginning of the 2023/2024 academic year.
Government failed to meet this set timeline, but on March 25, 2024 President Akufo-Addo speaking at the launch of the Ghana Smart Schools Project announced the commencement of the distribution of 1.3 million educational tablets to students in SHSs.
The one student, one tablet initiative government says aims to enhance digital learning by providing each student with a tablet with student having access to e-textbooks among others.
Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum will subsequently clarify on March 30th, the distribution was going to occur in phases with 450,000 tablets ready for distribution in phase one to some 32 schools from the next week.
“The 450,000 is a little less than 30 %. The deployment is such that it is in three phases. The first phase which is hitting the regions and schools in the next coming week, is going to 32 schools in the 16 regions.”, he told Joy News’ Samson Ayenini.
Dr. Adutwum will subsequently reveal in the second week of May 2024, while overseeing the distribution of the tablets to students of Achimota SHS, that only 70,000 out of the 450,000 tablets expected to be distributed to SHS students under phase one had been done, a statement carried in multiple dailies and web portals.
Documents sighted by Starr News’ reveal that apart from Achimota SHS where the minister spoke, the following SHS’s were earmarked to receive their share of the on student, one tablet under phase one of the project: Opoku Ware School, Bosomtwe Girls, OLA SHS at Kenyasi, St. James SHS, Bosomtwe STEM Academy, Osei Adutwum SHS, Wesley Girls’ SHS, Abomosu STEM, Mamfe Methodist SHS, Applied Technology Institute, Accra Technical Training Centre (ATTC), Awaso STEM, Kpasenkpe SHS, and OIC, Aburi Girls SHS, Nyakrom Senior High Technical School, St. Augustine’s College, Ghana Senior High Technical School, Ahantaman Girls’ SHS, Tarkwa SHS, Accra Academy, Mawuli School, Afua Kobi Ampem Girls’ SHS, Worawora SHS, Damongo SHS, Nandom SHS, Bolga Girls’ SHS, Notre Dame Girls’ SHS, and Koase Senior High Technical School.
The Minister’s statements already reveal as non-factual the claim of the Vice President that “ALL Senior High School Students have been given one tablet for free”.
But have students under phase one received their share of the laptops? Starr News visited Accra Technical Training Centre (ATTC) which is among the selected schools to find out whether all the students in ATTC have received their tablets.
The chorus remained that, although the students had heard about the tablets and were expected to receive them, none from ATTC as at Monday June 10 had received their share of the free tablets.
While the team sought to visit Opoku Ware School in the Ashanti Region, a facebook post again by the education minister on Thursday, June 6. Just 5 days ago confirms students of Opoku Ware School were yet to receive their tablets. In his words “Ahead of the official ceremony to distribute tablets to students of Opoku Ware School under the Smart School Project by His Excellency the Vice President in a fortnight, I paid an unannounced visit to the school on Sunday, June 2, 2024.”
Considering the Vice President’s claim was that “EVERY Senior High School Student has been given one tablet for free,” we also visited Accra High School to further verify if students of Accra High, despite not being a part of phase one had also received their tablet.
Our findings, revealed, just like ATTC, students of Accra High School have not received the tablets suggesting that the distribution is not as widespread as claimed.
VERDICT
Based on our findings and commentary by the education minister, the claim by the Vice President that every Senior High School student has received a tablet for free is FALSE.
While the government’s initiative is in place, students are yet to receive the tablets.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
