Leading education policy think tank Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) has demanded that the Ghana Education Service (GES) immediately retrieve all the former Akufo-Addo government tablets over the pornography crisis in the SHSs.
Eduwatch called on the GES to immediately retrieve the devices from all Senior High School (SHS) students to install robust safety controls.
Kofi Nkansah Sarkodie, Project Management Specialist at Eduwatch, stated, “Those tablets have already been procured and distributed. We recommend that GES retrieve them and ensure that the safety measures are fully implemented.”
“Retrieval can be done at the school level, and the necessary safeguards must be deployed. The devices are intended for academic purposes only, to support students’ learning, and not for any other activity.”
Their demand comes on the heels of Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Education, who has bemoaned concerns over some students using government-provided tablets to watch pornography content and other non-academic activities.
The Education Minister, speaking on the floor of parliament, noted that 980,000 of the 1.3 million tablets distributed to Senior High Schools nationwide without being restricted to academic use.
Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, November 27, Haruna Iddrisu detailed, “I inherited a contract with about 337 million US dollars, where some 1.3 million tablets were to be distributed across the country to all free senior high schools in the country so that learners can have access to digital tools. I’m told that the deployment of that is around 980,000”.
He added, “Mr Speaker, my attention was drawn to the fact that many of the devices are not customised and the students are using them for other purposes, including pornography, which is not acceptable.”
“Mr Speaker, the government is taking a high view of it, and there must be restrictions as to what the tablets can be used for, and they should be used strictly for the purpose of study,” he said.
Some netizens reacting to the Education Minister’s comment on the floor of parliament stated, “At the end of the day, these things come with ups and downs. Best we can do is to curb it. Moreover, a chunk of these students are adults, hence they should know what’s best for them in most cases”.
One netizen added, “They should just block those sites. I think it’s done for many. Even at workplaces, they are able to block some sites”.
An X user also added, “This is a poor implementation of technology.
Websites and apps can be easily blocked on devices. It is the easiest thing to do.
Why distribute the devices when you haven’t done these?
Oh, Oman Ghana. Every day we take two steps forward, three steps backwards”.
“This doesn’t make any sense. I was listening to Joy FM morning show, and it was clearly stated that the distributed tablets don’t have access to certain sites, which include pornography sites, so how come students are now getting access to these sites??? Are we really serious?”, one more Ghanaian wrote.
One more netizen wrote, “Educate users on how to utilise the device for its intended purpose, or customise the tablets with controls that restrict their use to specific functions. Simply purchasing for them is not enough if it is not properly managed to meet its intended goals”.