470 Science centre computers faulty

September 3,2008
Page 11

ONLY 190 out of the 660 computers supplied to the Science Resource Centres for second cycle schools are functioning. The remaining 470 have broken down.
Those that are working have problems such as faulty CD drives that prevent the use of the education software on CD-Roms.
In addition, 468 computers running on Windows 3.1 cannot run the new educational software, thereby compelling schools to purchase their own.
“The spare parts for these computers based on the old AT technology are no longer on the market. It is also on record that many pieces of the electronic equipment especially the sensor metres are out of use due to long period of usage,” a Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Mrs Angelina Baiden-Amissah, reported at the opening of a one-month training workshop for science teachers and technicians in Accra.
Philip Harris International, a UK-based supplier of education equipment which is providing £5.4 million for the programme, is also providing 10 resource persons.
Under the support, all the computers at the 110 science resource centres would be replaced with new computers and new science equipment. As part of the support, a science resource centre each would be established at the University of Cape Coast and the University of Education, Winneba, for the training of science teachers.
Mrs Baiden-Amissah noted that in 1996, the Ministry of Education sought to address the lack of science equipment and defective teaching and learning science materials in secondary schools across the country with the establishment of the science resource centres.
“These centres have a positive impact on both the teaching and learning of science. In the past few years, operations at these centres have witnessed challenges as a result of our inability to train teachers and technicians to man the centres, as well as the lack of maintenance and refurbishment of equipment,” she observed.
Since the inception of the project, she said, seven training programmes have been conducted for which 468 science teachers and technicians have been trained to man the resource centres between 1996-99, adding that “due to the lack of funding there has been no training programme for science teachers and technicians ever since”.
Mrs Baiden-Amissah said information and data collected during the monitoring of the centres indicated that many centres did not have trained teachers to handle the science software and equipment installed at the centres, and that many of the trained teachers had resigned, been promoted, transferred, left for further studies, or had gone on retirement.
She said there was, therefore, the need to train more science teachers and technicians to replace them, and urged the participants to take the programme seriously.
A representative of Philip Harris, Mr Phil Godding, said it was time to reinvigorate the centres and teachers by providing them with the requisite training and skills, since science and technology are key to the development of any nation.
He said the training that would be provided would help students to be critical thinkers and better problem solvers.
The Director of Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Stephen Adu, underscored the need for adequate attention to be paid to the teaching and learning of science.