Technology giant, Samsung Electronics has launched the first Solar-Powered Internet School in Dago in the Akuapem South District of the Eastern Region, Monday.
The project is aimed at boosting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) education in rural Ghana.
The Solar-Powered Internet Schools, part of Samsung’s Citizenship program is to give students in the most remote parts of Africa access to education and innovation.
The schools are made from a 40FT mobile shipping container fitted with desks, a 65-inch electronic board, Internet-enabled solar-powered notebooks, Samsung computers which would enable children to receive a technology-rich education without travelling to far.
Each 12-meter portable classroom has space for up to 24 students to learn how to use computers and how to surf the Internet.
The Minister for Education Prof Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang who was speaking at the commissioning of the facility at the Dago L/A Junior High School Monday thanked the government of the Republic of Korea and Samsung Electronics for the project.
She said the project was sited at a “place where it matters” and that “education must reach everybody no matter where they live, whether they have electricity or not, no matter what their circumstances are.”
She said the government on its part is also constantly putting in place measures to improve ICT education at all levels in the country. Some of the interventions, she noted, include “60,000 laptops which were provided to basic schools in ten regions of Ghana under the basic schools computerisation program while 50,000 basic school teachers have been trained in basic ICT skills.”
Harry Park, Managing Director for Samsung Electronics West Africa on his part said “Samsung, the Korean Education and Reach Information Service in collaboration with the government of Ghana have joined forces to initiate a positive change in this aspect of education in Ghana.”
According to him, the facility, which is part of Samsung’s Hope for Africa, is making sure that “irrespective of where these children live, they will be able to receive quality ICT education which will go a long way to equip them with the necessary skills to develop them to prepare for the future to compete with the rest of the world.”
Harry Park urged the government to take up the challenge to develop and deploy more of such innovative solutions to rural communities in the country.
Four teachers have been trained in Korea to manage and use the facility to teach with 20 more expected to be trained later. Samsung hopes to reach over 2.5 million students in Africa by 2015 with the facility.
Kea′ Modimoeng, Public Affairs & Corporate Citizenship Manager at Samsung Electronics Africa told Myjoyonline.com in an interview that his outfit is in talks with the government to have more of the facility in other deprived schools in the country.
He said it costs $150,000 to put up the facility in a single community.
Four teachers have been trained in Korea to manage and use the facility to teach with 20 more expected to be trained later. Samsung hopes to reach over 2.5 million students in Africa by 2015 with the facility.
Kea′ Modimoeng, Public Affairs & Corporate Citizenship Manager at Samsung Electronics Africa told Myjoyonline.com in an interview that his outfit is in talks with the government to have more of the facility in other deprived schools in the country.
He said it costs $150,000 to put up the facility in a single community.
