Civil Society Raises Concerns Over 1.3m SHS Laptop Policy

A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) focused on educational development in Ghana has raised serious concerns regarding the government’s ambitious plan to procure and distribute 1.3 million laptops to Senior High School (SHS) students across the country. According to the CSOs, the widespread distribution of personal devices without a comprehensive, research-backed digital integration framework directly contradicts international best practices for technology in education.

The policy, championed as a major step toward digitizing Ghana’s secondary education system, has faced immediate scrutiny from education policy analysts. While digital literacy is widely recognized as essential for the modern global economy, experts argue that simply handing out hardware without addressing foundational infrastructure, teacher training, and maintenance sustainability risks creating more problems than it solves.

Why the SHS Laptop Policy Contradicts Global Standards

Speaking on behalf of the coalition, policy leads pointed to comparative studies from international education bodies, including UNESCO and the OECD. These studies consistently show that ICT integration in schools yields the best results when implemented through well-equipped computer laboratories, shared institutional resources, and targeted pedagogical training rather than uncoordinated, mass personal distribution.

Key concerns raised by the CSOs include:

• Lack of Infrastructure: Many second-cycle institutions still lack reliable access to electricity, secure storage facilities, and consistent internet connectivity, rendering high-value laptops underutilized or vulnerable to damage.
• Teacher Readiness: Instructors require robust, continuous professional development to effectively integrate digital tools into daily lesson plans, an area that critics argue has been underfunded in favor of procurement.
• Maintenance and Sustainability: Without a clear, long-term financing and maintenance model, millions of cedis invested in these devices could go to waste within a few academic years as gadgets malfunction or break down without technical support.

Call for a Strategic Review of Ghana’s Digital Education Framework

The CSOs have formally urged the Ministry of Education to pause the current procurement trajectory and engage key stakeholders in a broad-based national dialogue. They are calling for a revised SHS laptop policy that prioritizes institutional infrastructure over mass personal ownership, ensuring that public funds deliver measurable improvements in learning outcomes.

As the debate intensifies, stakeholders across Ghana’s educational landscape await a formal response from the Ministry of Education regarding how these operational challenges and international pedagogical standards will be reconciled in the rollout of the digitalization agenda.