Education think tank Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) has admonished the government to roll out measures that will address the digital divide in Ghana’s basic schools as over 600,000 candidates prepare to sit for the 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
According to Eduwatch, the current situation of “unequal access, unequal exam” was not the best, as several of the candidates, particularly from deprived districts, will be forced to take the computing paper without ever having used a computer.
The concerns were captured in a statement issued by Eduwatch today, Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
“Two unequal groups will take the same exam: candidates from well-equipped schools with hands-on experience using computers and those from deprived schools who learnt computing through blackboard instruction,” it said.
In its statement, Eduwatch stated that only 2 per cent of schools in deprived districts have functional computers.
These districts, which are in the five northern regions, Oti, and Western North, serve over 2 million children but suffer critical deficits in ICT infrastructure.
The think tank also referenced a report by the Ghana Statistical Service which revealed that 72 per cent of children aged 6–14 in the Savannah Region have never used an ICT device. Digital illiteracy is similarly high in the North-East (67%), Northern (65%), Upper East, and Bono East (56%) regions.
It has therefore proposed to the government to roll out a targeted intervention that includes the provision of ICT infrastructure, electricity, and trained personnel in deprived schools to ensure inclusive access to digital learning.
“Ghana’s digital transformation must begin with inclusive digital literacy at the basic level,” Eduwatch added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
