Lack of ICT Skills Affect Teachers, Administrators Output

By Alberto Mario Noretti

Ho — The widespread lack of information technology skills among teachers and administrators in the educational sectors is adversely affecting their output, Madam Enyonam Afi Amafuga, Volta Regional Director of Education has observed.

She was opening a five-day ICT training workshop for 100 teachers selected from deprived basic schools in the Volta and Oti Regions here yesterday.

The programme, the ninth in a series, is organised by the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in collaboration with the Dream Oval and the Ashesi University to build the capacity of the participants in the areas of information technology.

Madam Amafuga pointed out that information technology had become the fulcrum around which education activities revolved, and an invariable tool for research, e-learning and administration.

She, therefore, commended GNAT for consistently committing resources to building the capacity of teachers and upgrading their skills in the area of information technology.

The regional director of education pointed out that teachers who understood the subject matter of what they taught were good at setting standard tests, and facilitated the comprehension of their students.

Besides, she said, those who had mastery over the subjects were more effective and efficient in the teaching and learning process.

"However, a lot of teachers have difficulties in teaching some topics in the various subjects, including information communication technology and even skipped the challenging topics, which eventually affects the performance of the students in their final examinations," Madam Amafuga revealed.

She said that the training programme by GNAT was, therefore, a huge step in the right direction to address the problem.

Earlier, Mr Ayuba M. Aguda, Volta Regional Vice-Chair of GNAT, said that the decentralisation of the training programme was meant to enhance its participation.

He stated that GNAT was not oblivious of the importance of ICT in the daily activities in the educational industry, adding that the programme was also to bridge the gap between the urban teachers and their counterparts in the deprived communities.

Mr Aguda maintained that ICT was affecting every aspect of education, from teaching-learning to assessment and evaluation, and that made it more imperative for teachers who were at the forefront of education to embrace it and transfer the knowledge to students.

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