Dr Yaw Adutwum, the Minister of Education, has been dragged before Parliament over the government’s ‘1 Teacher, 1 Laptop’ program, which has sparked dissent and unrest among teacher unions.
Dr. Clement Apaak, the Deputy Ranking Member of the Education Committee, has filed a question for the minister to answer, alleging that the contract selection process is riddled with corruption, claiming that the company chosen for the procurement and distribution of the laptops has no track record and was only registered this year.
He also likened the laptops to a hi-end techno phone, insisting they are not fit for purpose.
“If you look at what we are witnessing, regarding the complaints that aggrieved teachers have brought forward and you look at the discourse and information available so far, you realise they have every reason to be dissatisfied with the current arrangements, and once the beneficiaries have an issue with the benefit, that presupposes that there’s a problem,” he said.
“First of all, when the Vice President launched this initiative, some of us were on record to have indicated that the issues surrounding how the initiative came to be, the company, and all of that created something that one would consider as fishy and that is why I’ve filed a question to Parliament,” he added.
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Speaking to JoyNews’ Kwesi Parker-Wilson, he noted that the teachers have raised concerns about transparency issues and heard concerns about the quality of the laptops. Essentially, many of the teachers say the laptops are not fit for their purpose.
He prefers the state purchases fit for purpose, high and durable brand recognisable laptops for the teachers.
Dr Apaak also observed that the Minority will push for a full-scale parliamentary probe into the selection of the company and the procurement of the laptops if the answers provided by the Minister are unsatisfactory.
“I can tell you there’s a lot of advocacy for me to file a private members motion for a full parliamentary inquiry into this issue because we need value for money. Whether we like it or not, the state is supporting this initiative with 70% of the total cost, so the people too must get the assurance that what has been done gives value for money,” he noted.
In collaboration with Teacher Unions, government started the distribution of laptops to all teachers in public schools in September across the country.
Launching the initiative dubbed ‘One Teacher One Laptop’, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia stated that the project is to help improve the quality of education.
He indicated that teachers will bear 30 per cent of the cost while government absorbs the remaining 70 per cent.
Stressing that the initiative is important to the Akufo-Addo government, the Vice President noted that effective teaching and learning is critical to developing the human capacity for work, innovation, and creativity.
Some unions, including the Innovative Teachers, and All Teachers Alliance Ghana (ATAG), in November, jointly sued the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Attorney-General, and the Education Ministry over a move to award a contract on the initiative to the 1st Defendant, K.A Technologies Ghana Limited.
The plaintiffs are demanding that the sole-sourced contract awarded to K. A Technologies Ghana Limited be annulled because it is contrary to sections 40 a, b, c, d, and e of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), among other claims.
Also, some aggrieved members of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) in the Volta Region have described the ‘1 teacher, 1 laptop’ initiative as fraudulent.
They have, therefore, requested that all monies deductions made from their Professional Development Allowance and their Tier 2 money to pre-finance the initiative be refunded.
