So I’ve been to Kumasi before. Take this with a grain of salt - this was over 10 years ago and I was there on a two week voluntourism trip. Here are some of the reasons it’s hard to use real computers as a part of the ciriculum there.
* Electricity. Blackouts and brownouts are a part of life in Ghana, especially Kumasi. On top of that, the quality of the electricity is low. This poses major challenges for computers in the classroom. The school I visited only had electricity in the main office but not in the classrooms.
* Air quality. It is so very dusty. The medical clinic I was volunteering at had a computer and was constantly on the fritz in part due to dust when dry and humidity when raining. Many of the places I visited were open to the outside air like that clinic.
* Literacy. It’s gotten way better since I’ve been there but you still need basic literacy to get any use out of a computer.
* Poverty. Ghana’s GDP per capita is $4,500 USD. Many people in this community live on an income of dollars a day.
* Internet. The only access to Internet is a nearby town with an Internet cafe. And you needed the power to be on to use it. And it was very expensive - a couple dollars an hour to use.
* Typing skills. Due to lack of exposure to computers, even the people with a job at the clinic who were supposed to use the computer had at best 5 was typing ability.
* Simple computer skills. The ladies at the clinic wanted to listen to a single song on windows media player. I tried to show them the loop button but they did not want it. They were happy to just restart it every 3 minutes for the entire 6 hour work day.
And lots of other reasons. I don’t really have any answers but I do wish to see it improve.
* Electricity. Blackouts and brownouts are a part of life in Ghana, especially Kumasi. On top of that, the quality of the electricity is low. This poses major challenges for computers in the classroom. The school I visited only had electricity in the main office but not in the classrooms.
* Air quality. It is so very dusty. The medical clinic I was volunteering at had a computer and was constantly on the fritz in part due to dust when dry and humidity when raining. Many of the places I visited were open to the outside air like that clinic.
* Literacy. It’s gotten way better since I’ve been there but you still need basic literacy to get any use out of a computer.
* Poverty. Ghana’s GDP per capita is $4,500 USD. Many people in this community live on an income of dollars a day.
* Internet. The only access to Internet is a nearby town with an Internet cafe. And you needed the power to be on to use it. And it was very expensive - a couple dollars an hour to use.
* Typing skills. Due to lack of exposure to computers, even the people with a job at the clinic who were supposed to use the computer had at best 5 was typing ability.
* Simple computer skills. The ladies at the clinic wanted to listen to a single song on windows media player. I tried to show them the loop button but they did not want it. They were happy to just restart it every 3 minutes for the entire 6 hour work day.
And lots of other reasons. I don’t really have any answers but I do wish to see it improve.