Director of Digital Transformation and Commercial Operations at Vodafone Ghana, Angela Mensah-Poku, has underscored the need for public-private partnerships and collaborations within the EdTech eco-system in order to drive equitable, fair, and quality digital learning for all.
Speaking on the topic ‘Access to Digital Resources’, on the EdTech organised by the MasterCard Foundation on Citi FM, Angela joined other stakeholders to share her thoughts on the challenges with EdTech, the opportunities and some interventions that are helping address the digital divide.
“We believe in the power of technology through partnerships. Our priority has been to collaborate with everyone in the ecosystem in order to create an equitable and quality digital learning experience for all. We look at the challenges in EdTech in totality and that informs our approach to digital learning; whether it is infrastructure, access, content, or even developing the digital skills of students and teachers,” she said.
Highlighting Vodafone Ghana’s contribution to eLearning, Ms. Mensah-Poku said: “Vodafone has donated hundreds of devices to brilliant and needy students. In making sure that we are aware and conscious of the in-built biases in tech and ensuring they are top-of-mind, we have several gender-led unique programmes for girls including our Coding for Girls programme, which has trained over 1000 girls nation-wide.
In addressing the issue of content, our Instant Schools, a digital education platform offers a wide range of basic to advanced learning materials for FREE with unlimited access to everyone.”
She added “We have also extended our fibre broadband to over 50 different ICT labs across the country. Our infrastructure has also enabled developers and content providers in the ecosystem to provide content online and offline through the use of channels that don’t require internet’’
Angela Mensah-Poku further lauded the government of Ghana’s ‘One Teacher, One Laptop’ initiative, which is aimed at facilitating lesson planning, teaching and learning outcomes, and called for additional support to ensure teachers and students fully benefit from the package.
She urged the government to build an eco-system for teachers to implement an e-learning model that enables every child to have a personal digital learning experience that leaves no one behind.
Vodafone continues to demonstrate profound commitment to introducing sustainable interventions that help the government address key societal challenges. Some of the Telco’s numerous youth-led initiatives include programmes aimed at delivering quality education for all, addressing unemployment, bridging the digital skills gap amongst the youth, and ultimately building the country’s human capital. Vodafone recently organised a Virtual Skills Fair which hosted over 5,000 young people and seasoned speakers.
Other panel members on Citi FM’s Ed-Tech programme, the Deputy Director who doubles as a Policy Lead for the Alliance for Affordable Internet, Eleanor Sarpong, and a Senior Education Specialist with the World Bank Group, Eunice Yaa Brimfah Ackwerh, challenged the government to come up with sustainable training measures aimed at equipping teachers with the requisite digital skills.
