This forms the first phase of the distribution exercise, which is expected to end on December 17, 2021.

Phase two, which will cover all teachers in public junior high schools (JHSs), will commence when schools reopen in January 2022, while all public basic school teachers will benefit from the programme under the third phase.

Handing over the laptops to the Headmistress of the O’Reilly SHS, Madam Rejoice Akua Acorlor, in Accra yesterday, the Director-General of the GES, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, said some SHS teachers might not benefit from the programme under the first phase because their schools run the single-track system, for which reason those schools were on vacation.

He gave an assurance that those teachers would receive their laptops when their schools reopened in January 2022.

A total of 119 teachers at the O’Reilly SHS are expected to benefit from the distribution of the laptops.

Brand

Prof. Opoku-Amankwa dismissed the assertion that the brand of computers being distributed was of low grade, saying the laptops were uploaded with educational materials and could be used to prepare lesson notes and other activities as required.

He said the laptops had a storage capacity of 256 gigabytes and a ramp of 12 gig and came with computer bags.

On the recently released results of the 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), he said in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in the long closure of schools, the results were “very encouraging and we thank you {teachers} for your effort”.

Significance

Madam Acorlor described the distribution of the laptops as “timely”, adding: “In this time and age, there is no way we teachers, as educationists, can do without computers; and these are not just any computers on the market.”

“I wish to assure the GES that we will do our best to put these computers to good use and also take good care of them,” she added.

For his part, the Deputy Director-General of the GES in charge of Quality and Access, Dr Kwabena Bempah Tandoh, explained that unlike other brands of laptops, those that were provided for teachers had a two-year warranty and could be operated with multiple windows.