SAVANA SIGNATURES TRAINS 20 HEAD TEACHERS IN TAMALE ON BASIC ICT SKILLS.

Savana Signatures realises that the development and progress of education and the North in particular will be much swifter when the capacity building of the minds of the teachers becomes the fundamental resource.

It was in fulfillment of this dream that Savana Signatures in partnership with the Community Outreach programme of the Radboud University in the Netherlands organised a three week capacity building training programme on Basic ICT for 20 selected head teachers from Tamale the Metropolis. The Training was conducted at the Savana Signatures ICT Centre in Tamale.

The head teachers who had little to no experience at all with a computer were taken through, basic mouse movement, basic Typing Skills, basic ICT knowledge about hardware and software, Microsoft Office Word 2007 (Basic), Microsoft Office Excel 2007 (Basic), Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 (Basic) and the Internet use.

The three weeks training which was practically oriented gave the head teachers the opportunity to have a feel of how the incorporation of ICT into their school administration can improve upon teaching and learning and eventually translate into good academic performance of students. The trainees acknowledged that with Microsoft excel the computing of students’ marks and the balancing of school accounts will be much easier and more convenient. The heads were also impressed by the fact that with the internet they could have access to a pool of knowledge at virtually no cost while at the same time saving time and energy.

Most of the teachers in their testimonies said that the three weeks has demystified the computer for them because hitherto, they saw the computer as a complex and expensive machine that can not be handled by anybody except an expert. They however urged Savsign to, in the future, extend the duration of the training to four weeks or more to enable them catch up.

At the end of the training, participants were awarded certificates and a manual containing the training materials and some exercises. The Director for Savana Signatures, Mr. John Stephen Agbenyo, thanked the teachers for the commitment throughout the course and admonished them to continue to build their capacities in ICT as a way of improving their lot and that of their schools. Mr. Agbenyo also used the occasion to thank the Tamale Metropolitan Education office for their support in providing the teachers for the training and did not forget to thank the trainers, Robbin Janssen and Iris van Kesteren for their patience in taking the teachers through the training and for helping SavSign to achieve one of its core objectives of building the capacities of stakeholders in education.

The trainers, Robbin Janssen and Iris van Kesteren, from the Radboud University, on their part were very thrilled about the progress that was made by the heads within the three weeks of training and urged them not to rest on the knowledge they had acquired but to constantly put it into practice by using it in their schools as a way of keeping track of the knowledge.

The following video link sums up the above report
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy1Z-ktQTB8

NGO slams gov'ts one laptop per child policy

A Non Governmental Organization, Savannah Signatures, promoting the study of Information and Communication Technology in Northern Ghana has disapproved of government’s one child per laptop policy.

Mr. Steven Agbenyo, Executive Director of the Savannah Signatures advised government to focus on providing the needed infrastructure in basic schools to facilitate the study of ICT rather than trying to “Waste” resources on acquiring laptops for distribution to school pupils.

Steven Agbenyo’s criticism came in support of a similar assertion made by Dr. Kwadwo Adjei Tutu, a senior Lecturer at the Economics Department of the University of Ghana who described the one child per laptop policy as “Bogus and a misplaced priority”.

The lecturer at a press conference on Monday September 1, was emphatic that the Mills-Mahama led NDC administration could be charged for causing financial loss to the state with the distribution of 6,000 laptops to pupil’s, when the same resources could be used to provide libraries, books and proper supervision for pupils.

Steven Agbenyo who added his voice to the brouhaha surrounding the one child per laptop policy in an exclusive interview with Citi News questioned the rationale behind making the study of ICT an examinable subject at the Junior High School level when there were no resources to support the course.

The Savannah Signatures Executive Director raised these concerns on the sidelines at a day’s stakeholder workshop on the use of ICT’s in managing patient’s data for an effective health delivery system in Ghana.

Steven Agbenyo maintained that the scale of priority on the one laptop per child had been misplaced because government failed to conduct proper feasibility studies before implementing the policy.

According to the Savannah Signatures Executive Director, there are schools in the heart of the Tamale metropolis (names withheld) that cannot boast of a single computer and its accessories.

He added that the region lacked teachers to handle the ICT subject in many schools that do not have access to electricity.

On the way forward, Mr. Steven Agbenyo advised the Ministry of Education to put on hold the initiative of making the ICT subject examinable at the Junior High School level and ensure the fair distribution of ICT logistics to all schools nationwide.

Mr. Hassan Hamidu, Upper East regional ICT Coordinator from the National Health Insurance Authority stressed the need for the NHIS to play a key role in implementing the use of ICT in data collection at the various health institutions nationwide.

He emphasized that ICT education should be made mandatory to all health professionals whose services are indispensable in nation building.

Mr. Hassan Hamidu therefore impressed upon health professionals particularly Doctors to go beyond folders and automate patients’ data to ensure quick recovery when necessary.

Savannah Signatures in collaboration with the Ghana Information Network for Knowledge Sharing (GINKS) is promoting the study of ICT in the three regions of the north.

http://citifmonline.com/index.php?id=1.287154.1.575855