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On the Road: Bob Marsh Helps Launch Digital Schools in Ghana
For many of us, Internet and e-mail were not available until we were well out of school, but it is still hard to imagine a learning environment today without immediate access to information and tools. In most developing countries access to the Internet is still a luxury, but the Cisco-sponsored NEPAD Initiative, with the help of Inveneo, is working to close the digital divide and provide access and exposure to secondary school children in Africa.
In his recent trip to Africa, Bob Marsh, VP Engineering and co-founder of Inveneo, worked with Cisco representatives and local Information and Communication Technology (ICT) providers in Ghana to provide computer labs for three of the country’s secondary schools spread across the country; at Bogoso in the West, Wa in the Upper West, and at Walewale in the Upper East Regions. “By implementing a lottery system for school admissions, the Ministry of Education has brought students from every part of the country to the e-Schools with NEPAD computer labs,” said Bob, “giving youth all over Ghana the opportunity to pursue careers as IT professionals.
The installation of three 30-computer learning centers in Ghana was completed by the Cisco Consortium to support the New African Partnership for Development (NEPAD) e-Schools Initiative. The objective of the e-Schools Initiative is to provide ICT tools and training to school teachers and students, which will enable them to better function in the emerging information society and knowledge economy. NEPAD, a pan-African government alliance, is working with several leading technology companies to install Internet labs in urban and rural schools across 20 countries. In addition, its goal is to identify vibrant, sustainable ICT and learning solutions to be implemented by 2010 in over 500,000 primary and secondary schools across Africa.
The schools in the upper and more rural regions of Ghana received the Inveneo Education Station computers. The Inveneo Education Station is an ultra low-power computer and LCD screen designed for operation in rural areas that lack dependable access to electricity. It requires only 17 watts of power and can run on any 12-volt power generation system in combination with a battery back-up. The Education Stations are also solid state (they have no moving parts) so they are resistant to the challenges of heat, dust and humidity often found in rural environments. The third school in Bogoso was provided hardware from the pilot production of a new Intel computer. Over a ten day period the set-ups and training at each location went smoothly. Testing of the various installations was completed by teachers from each of the e-Schools. Having helped throughout the installation and training process, the teachers will have a deeper understanding of the systems and be able to assist with maintenance of the labs in the future.
Bob collaborated with Peace Corp volunteers, Cisco employees, teachers and students in Ghana, and together they are playing an important role in expanding computer literacy and Internet access in these countries. For Bob, working with the many NEPAD partners was an inspiring experience. “We are working as a team to help shape the future of Africa so that millions of people can change their lives for the better.”
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ob observed that Ghana is progressing quickly with technology, especially for people in the capital city of Accra, now booming with ICT educational opportunities. While traveling across Accra, Bob met with many organizations and individuals that are highly skilled potential local Inveneo ICT partners as Inveneo begins to expand support for more projects in Ghana.
In summary, Bob noted, this is the third in a series of NEPAD initiative projects in which we’ve participated. We’re excited to have played an early and formative role in delivering the powerful tools of Internet access and computing technologies to students and teachers in three African countries so far, Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana.
Next: e-Schools in Mali!
Reported by Anita Deshpande, Inveneo Volunteer
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