Library Authority launches digital learning project
The Ghana Library Authority (GhLA) has launched a digital learning project under which staff of 15 public libraries across the country would be trained.
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The training will cover topics such as basic computer skills, internet safety, information literacy and coding.
As part of the project, the 15 selected libraries are to be turned into digital learning hubs to provide essential skills to about 6,000 people.
The project, which was launched in Accra last Monday, is in collaboration with Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), an NGO that partners libraries to enable access to knowledge for research, studies and livelihoods.
Objective
The Chief Executive Officer of GhLA, Hayford Siaw, said the goal of the project was to create educational opportunities for students between the ages of 12 and 18, by advancing their ICT skills through free and open educational resources delivered via public libraries.
He, therefore, urged the beneficiary libraries to take advantage of the project to ensure better outcomes.
Mr Siaw said library services had now been transformed from the provision of books to the realms of providing people with knowledge to impact society.
“And that is why under this project, we will bring all our coordinators from the 15 libraries to add on to the knowledge that they already have so that they can also reach out to other young people and share with them,” he said.
The CEO said they would subsequently be transformed into community digital learning facilitators through a training of trainers (ToT) programme.
Mr Siaw said the impact of the project would be measured not only in numbers, but in increased access to digital learning opportunities, enhanced skills and strengthening of the capacity of public libraries to serve their communities effectively.
“As a public library with 131 branches, we don’t want to deny citizens the opportunity to adapt to the changing world of technology,” he said.
Access
The Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in charge of Quality and Access, Dr Kwabena Bempah Tandoh, said access to computers and internet, particularly in rural communities, was one of the biggest challenges in the educational sector.
While advancing ICT skills in schools, he said, it was also important to educate children on cybercrime and how they could avoid it.
Dr Tandoh also urged teachers to ensure that pupils and students had good understanding of the work of the Internet, including the dangers and opportunities that exist in its use.
