Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, Ghana's deputy minister of education, has praised leading ICT company Huawei for the crucial role it plays in utilising ICT to advance inclusive and equitable education for everyone through its Technology-enabled Open School System (TeOSS) initiative.
The Ghana Education Service (GES), the Centre for National Distance Learning and Open Schooling (CENDULOS), the Ministry of Education, and other significant players in Ghana, Egypt, and Ethiopia are all partners in the Technology-enabled Open School Systems (TeOSS) initiative.
The initiative seeks to combine school and home-based learning in order to maintain the continuity and quality of learning in both normal and emergency conditions. Its goal is to establish strong crisis-resilient education systems.
Through improved connection, digital skills, and professional development over a three-year period, it also aims to empower recipients.
The Deputy Minister of Education elaborated on the Government of Ghana's and the Ministry of Education's commitment to further collaborating with Huawei, UNESCO, and other development partners to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4, which is focused on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting life-long learning, in his remarks at the recently concluded UNESCO-Huawei Cross Country Seminar held in Accra.
More digital platforms are required as an enabler and a lever to fulfil SDG Goal 4's core aims, according to Hon. John Ntim Fordjour, who went on to clarify. He said that as a result, the government has made significant efforts through industrial partnerships to reach every location with students.
He thanked the UNESCO Ghana Country Director, Mr. Diallo Abdourahamane, and the Ghana team for their consistent support aimed at transforming Ghana's education sector and said, "We are excited about this discussion going on with Huawei Ghana and the team of experts that are sharing ideas and supporting this very brilliant intervention that the Ministry is undertaking.
The Technology-enabled Open School initiative, which was formally inaugurated on November 25, 2021, is anticipated to help disadvantaged populations in Ghana, out-of-school children, and junior high school students.
The initiative has been conducted at 10 schools in 10 different parts of the nation since it began. Teachers and students had access to both online and offline resources throughout the pilot resources to guarantee that schools located in areas without electricity and internet connectivity might benefit from the programme.
Huawei has trained over 50,000 Ghanaians in advanced ICT courses like Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Routing and Switching, Coding, Financial Technology, and Cloud Computing as part of its Women in Tech initiative. Huawei is a company focused on accelerating the development of ICT talents in Ghana through strategic partnerships.
Over 200 tertiary students were successfully given employment prospects by Huawei this year as part of its LEAP (Leadership Entrepreneurship Advancement Possibility) programme. Huawei hosted its first ICT Job Fair in partnership with important government departments.