Today, dear reader, I am reproducing an article that highlights the
possibilities that technology-enabled learning offers our nation, as it
strives to provide quality free education - from kindergarten to
tertiary level - for the younger generation of Ghanaians.
One hopes that all the political parties in Ghana will focus on how the
use of digital devices such as tablet computers, could help our
country provide quality free education from kindergarten to tertiary
level, to all Ghanaians with the aptitude to study - at a fraction of
the cost of providing education through the traditional
bricks-and-mortar method.
Entitled "The World's Cheapest Tablet Unveiled", the article was posted
on Wealth Wire by Adam English, in the website's Monday, November
12th, 2012 edition. Please read on:
"While the world waits on bated breath for any news about Apple tablets,
a small UK firm named Datawind just announced the world's cheapest
Tablet.
While a top of the line IPad with the much-touted retina display costs a
whopping $829.00, the new UbiSlate 7Ci will cost a mere $64.00.
Students in India will be able to take advantage of a subsidy that
lowers the price to $24.65.
The Aakash tablets have been developed through a public-private
partnership to make computing technology available to Indian students.
Internet usage is only at around 10% in the country, which leaves many
students at a disadvantage as they move into the workforce.
Indian president Pranab Mukherjee personally launched the tablet while
highlighting the importance of putting computing devices in the hands of
hundreds of millions of students over the coming five years.
"Technology-enabled learning is a very important aspect of education,"
Mukherjee said. "This must be adapted to our specific needs and
introduced expeditiously in all educational institutions across the
country."
Unlike its predecessor from a year ago, the new tablet received
widespread praise from the 15,000 teachers already trained on the
device. Positive reviews are also popping up in the media.
The original model was slow, plagued by delivery delays and widely panned as an outdated and poorly designed tablet.
The first 100,000 will be provided directly to students at engineering
universities and colleges. After the first batch, the new tablets will
go on sale at university and college stores around India
While the tablet is not competitive with top-of-the-line tablets, it is
more than capable of handling the needs of students and casual users.
The tablet run on the latest Android 4 platform and feature a 7 inch
800x480 capacitive display, 1 Ghz processor and 512 MB of DDR3 Ram. The
device will store 4 GB of data internally and will be compatible with a
32 GB small external drive.
For internet access, a Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n card will guarantee compatibility with the latest wireless routers.
It even comes with a USB cable and a 4 port USB hub will allow it to communicate directly with more traditional computers."
End of culled Wealth Wire article by Adam English.
As a people, dear reader, there is nothing we cannot do, if we are creative in our thinking.
Providing quality free education from kindergarten to tertiary level,
need not bankrupt our nation. We have the Indian example to guide us.
Could we not educate millions by making e-textbooks available to all
those in our educational institutions, and outside of those
institutions - and also providing them with broadband wireless
internet access? Ditto providing wi-fi for all educational
institutions in our country?
Perhaps by involving all the telecommunications companies in Ghana, and
Google - through the use of tax incentives - our ruling elites may yet
discover that indeed technology-enabled learning, could well hold the
key to providing quality free education in Ghana.
A word to the wise...
Tel: 027 745 3109.
Email: peakofi.thompson@gmail.com
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