65th New Year School launched in Accra

The 65th Annual New Year School (ANYS) of the University of Ghana has been launched with a call on Ghanaians to support the country's quest for development through information communication technologies (ICTs).

The Director of the Institute of Continuing and Distance Education (ICDE), Prof. Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi, who made the call, said such a contribution would enable the country to realise its hopes of using ICTs for accelerated development.

The annual school, to be held between January 6 and January 10, 2014, will be on the theme, "Information and Communication Technology - Driven Education for Sustainable Human Development: Challenges and Prospects. "

The ICDE also launched its strategic plan in relation to its advocacy and research on ICT and National Development, with annual sub-themes for programmes spanning ICT-driven education, e-Government and e-Democracy, e-Health, e-Agriculture and e-Business for the ANYS for the next six years.

Dr Omane Boamah

Launching the event in Accra yesterday, the Minister Of Communications, Dr Edward Omane-Boamah,  outlined certain government interventions in relation to ICT and governance.

He said ICT deployment and application was increasingly becoming the basis for determining the status of socio-economic advancement of nations, with claims being made that for every 10 per cent increase in broadband capacity, a corresponding average increase of one per cent in GDP was expected.

He said work was progressing on the deployment of 780 kilometres of fibre optic ICT backbone, connecting more than 120 towns between Ho in the south and Bawku in the north-eastern part of Ghana, linking Tamale and Yendi.

He said the government wished to create unimpeded access to broadband to promote teaching and learning virtually and in real time.

e-Government Platform

Dr Omane-Boamah added that under the e-Government Platform Project, in 2014, a total of 90 World Wide Interoperability Microwave Access (WiMAX) sites would be upgraded, with points of presence in all the districts this would be in line with the government’s overall goal of infrastructure modernisation to ensure efficiency.

He said so far, 30 base stations had been completed.

"This year, the government undertook universal access projects such as providing internet connectivity to 200 institutions. Two ICT centres were set up at the Ghana National Fire Service Headquarters and Training School," Dr Boamah said.

He said a network programme to provide infrastructure, connectivity and applications was being pursued in eight selected public tertiary institutions to strengthen their capacity in ICT.

In line with that, a comprehensive study had been carried out to assess the infrastructure, connectivity and application requirements.