The Collaboration for Communications and IT Advancement
Vision
A Program of the African Bicycle Contribution Foundation
A 501(c) U.S. and Ghananian Non-profit Organization
Challenges
Ghana's ICT-Related Challenges
- According to a 2014 report by the African Development Bank, "...poor technological capability remains one of the
major constraints to Africa's efforts to achieve sustainable development
- Countries are faced with an unprecedented challenge of updating education systems built for another era
- Ghana has a greater, current shortage of advanced digital skills, and jobs, which will require more immediate and
advanced skills, than those in (other parts of) Sub-Saharan Africa, because Ghana's economy has progressed at a
faster pace than those in the rest of the region
- According to Maxwell Peprah Opoku, a respected university scholar with Ashanti origins, 96.1% of students in Ghana's Ashanti Region, the most heavily populated of the nation's 16 regions, do not have access to labs for practical training in ICT. Additionally, most students do not have sufficient access to books, computers and the Internet.
- In Ghana's rural communities, major causes for the lack of ICT access were the lack of Internet access and
electricity. Sixty five percent of students found it difficult to understand such courses because they didn’t have the
practical knowledge of technology.
- According to The Economist's African editor, Jonathan Rosenthal, the full benefits of technology for young people in
Ghana will only be achieved once basics like power supplies and communications are widely available.
“…poor technological capability remains one of the major constraints to Africa’s efforts to achieve sustainable
development.” ~ African Development Bank, 11/1/14
“…the emergence of the need for ICT education is part of a major shift in reshaping the skills people will need to
access markets, operate factories, or run their own businesses.”
“…countries are faced with an unprecedented challenge of updating education systems built for another era.”
“…foundational skills taught in school must include basic digital skills at a minimum. Digital skills are now considered
as essential for the future work as reading and writing.”
“There is a gap between what skills(educational systems) offer versus what economies need. Globally, 85 percent of
countries include computer skills in their curriculums for upper secondary school. But some regions lag, with Sub-
Saharan Africa at only 50 percent, and much lower in earlier years of school.”
“Sub-Saharan Africa now has 22% Internet penetration as compared to 55% of the world’s population.”
According to Aseshi University/Tech University, “If we are serious about ICT, every school needs to be connected to the Internet, with computer labs accessible to students, teachers and administrators. We need to teach kids early on about programing, and how to use and create technology. We need to teach coding.”