Organised by the Centre for National Distance Learning and Open Learning (CENDLOS) in collaboration with its partners, the two-day event is on the theme: “Reimagining education: A call on multi-stakeholder coordination and action for equitable access to digital and distance learning in Africa.”

More than hundred stakeholders in the education sector are taking part in the conference, which is expected to lead to the adoption of the transformative power of digital learning in Ghana.

Opening the meeting, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, said digital learning was one of the ways avail­able for the country to leapfrog inequality in education.

He said the government was resolved to change the course of history in terms of education in the country, and the right investment was being made in the sector, to make the President’s vision of using educa­tion as a transformative tool a reality.

“The President is really determined. Digital learning can come to the rescue, I am happy to announce to you first time publicly that we are going to develop and begin the Ghana virtual high school. The virtual high school will give opportunity to many of our youth to enroll virtually and complete high school online,” Dr Adut­wum noted.

He said, ‘If you have a top performing teacher, for example at Presbyterian Boys Secondary School (PRESEC) who is very famous for science, that teacher can teach the whole country virtually as in Pronius. In real time, other teachers will stop their instruction and pay attention to what the great instructor from PRESEC will be teaching. After that they can do all the activities and then continue from there,” he emphasised.

Dr Adutwum said “there would not be the need to wait until more teachers are trained to become great instructors. There is the need to leapfrog inequality by ex­tending the services of one great instructor to all high schools. This is what distance education should be doing for us.”

The Executive Director of CENDLOS, Nana Gyamfi Adwabor, said the successes of the past year had fuelled the determina­tion to continue pushing the boundaries of digital and distance learning in the country.

He said this was the only way by which the country could push the boundaries of digital and distance learning to create in­clusive and equitably accessible educational opportunities for.

Nana Adwabor explained that this year’s theme for the conference underscored the critical need for collaboration and collec­tive action.

“By bringing together diverse perspec­tives and expertise, we can leverage our collective strength to overcome challenges and create meaningful and lasting change that will help us achieve the overarching national mission of reimaging education,” he said.