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 SavSign in partnership with the Community Outreach programme of the Radboud University in the Netherlands organised a three week capacity building training programme on Basic ICTs 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 workshop which was organised by the Ghana Information Network for Knowledge Sharing (GINKS) in partnership with its local partner, Savana Signatures (SavSign) in Tamale on 23 November 2010 drew participants from a cross-section of Junior High Schools some of which included Dabokpa JHS, Shishegu Zion JHS, Kamina Barracks JHS, Vitting SHS, NOBISCO, Dabokpa Technical Institute and other sister organization like ISODEC, NNED, BoldSteps Foundation and CALID
Education Office emphasised that just as the private sector is seen as the engine of national growth, ICT is the foundation for effective national development in this 21st century. He therefore, encouraged participants to take issues that will be discussed at the seminar seriously and go back to put them into practice and not rest since any unused knowledge, decays.
Delivering the second presentation on the topic “Application of ICT tools in school”, Mr. Raphael McClure Adomey, an ICT instructor at the St. Charles Minor Seminary Senior High School admonished participants to always utilise any knowledge they acquire since knowledge that stays unused decays. This, he stated, is the only surest way we can utilize ICTs to transform and change the traditional approach to data management. He went further to elaborate on how the use of ICT tools can be of immense use for headmasters and school administrators.
for us as Ghanaians to change our lukewarm attitude when it comes to ICT related matters and face the realities of the 21st century. Other participants also urged Savana Signatures to continue to provide practical training to teachers in the effective utilization of PowerPoint, Word and most importantly Excel to enable them prepare students’ reports and save time. Participants further suggested that there should be in place a follow up service scheme to ensure that teachers who are given some training go to share the knowledge with their colleagues and also impart them to the students.
The Bimbilla Community Information Centre has successfully organised a one day ICT4D forum at the forecourt of the Bimbilla Community Information centre. The centre is located in the Nanumba North District in the Northern Region of Ghana.
A one day ICT4D forum has been successfully organised at the Salaga Community Information Centre. The centre, which is located in the East Gonja District in the Northern Region of Ghana, offers telecentre services.
“The fight against the digital divide has resulted in massive imports of used and new computers and other electrical and electronic equipment into developing countries, especially in Africa. E-waste has hence become one of the major challenges in the field of waste management in developing countries” These were the opening remarks of Mr. Abu Iddrisu, Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency of the Northern Region. He said this when he took his turn at the Northern ICT4D Series held at the Institute for Local Government Studies in Tamale on Thursday the 26th of November 2009.
