Students have been urged to take advantage of the opportunities offered by ICT to enhance learning and improve their knowledge and not use it to destroy or stunt the development of the nation.
Mrs. Sofia Awotwi, the Director of the Science Resource Centre, Ministry of Education, Science and Sports said ICT had become more important because of the information it provided people.
It is in this connection that the Ministry of Education is emphasizing ICT training in schools as part of the current education reforms hence its introduction in the school syllabus and curriculum.
Mrs. Awotwi was speaking at a forum organised by Ghana Information Network for Knowledge Sharing (GINKS) to examine the involvement and contributions of the government to ICT training in schools on the theme "ICT training in schools, prospects and challenges."
Students from Senior and Junior Highs schools attended the forum.
Mrs. Awotwi said government's intention was to use ICT to transform the educational system and create an environment for capacity building in the area of using technology in teaching and learning.
The overall goal of the policy, she said, was to enable every Ghanaian to use ICT tools and to acquire the skills necessary to achieve personal goals, especially in the country's quest to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
She said the ICT syllabus was designed in a way to equip the students with basic ICT skills to enable them develop interest and learn other subjects better as well as use the internet to communicate effectively even in the area of business.
The Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education service she said, have the responsibility of involving all schools in the ICT programmes and had in the past five years the government has been assisting in the provision of computers to enable everyone to use ICT to develop the skills they need to achieve their goals.
However, there are challenges of lack of adequate computers for the schools, lack of infrastructure and the absence of skilled personnel for teaching as well as maintenance of ICT equipment, which are stalling smooth implementation of the programme.
Ms. Abigail Mercy Thompson, an ICT consultant, said the poor maintenance culture must be reversed, saying that lack of computers was not the issue, but the inability to maintain the few that were available.
She urged teachers to embrace ICT and use it as a teaching aid to improve the performance and understanding of their students.
Ms. Thompson said the prospects of ICTs in education in the area of distant learning and personal development could not be overemphasised and recommended the establishment and use of e-learning centres and virtual libraries.
Mr. Jonny Akakpo, the Chairman of GINKS, challenged school administrators and the Ministry of Education to take up the responsibility of engaging themselves in ICT literacy, so that they could impart the knowledge to students effectively.