Over 100,000 teachers are yet to receive laptops - GNAT President

The President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Rev Issac Owusu, has criticised the government on the launch of the Smart School Project for secondary cycle educational institutions in the country.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday, March 25, 2024, launched the Ghana Smart Schools Project, which includes the distribution of 1.3 million educational tablets to senior high school (SHS) students.

The project, which seeks to deepen the application of information technology (IT) in teaching and learning at the second cycle level, also involves the construction of 100 Smart Schools across the country, 30 of which will be completed by the end of this year.

Each tablet is fitted with digital content to aid research, teaching and learning.

At the tertiary level, the government plans to provide at a discounted price, tablets and laptops to students and lecturers to facilitate academic work. 

Speaking on Accra-based Joy news concerning the programme, the GNAT President, Rev. Owusu, said even though the initiative is a good one, the government has failed to supply laptops it promised to teachers some years ago. 

He explained that teachers' unions have signed a number of agreements with the government, but such agreements have yielded no result.

He said over 100,000 teachers under the union have not received their laptops from the government to help facilitate the programme.

Rev. Owusu said whereas the government in a contract with GNAT promised to supply laptops to teachers within 12 calendar months, starting from January 2021 to December 2021, the supplier has not met his target.

For him, "we are in 2024 and more than 100,000 teachers have not received the laptops”.