Hands-on computer classes for 1,800 Ghana children

We are delighted to share with you the excellent exam results for hundreds of children who learnt practical computer skills through the Hands on computer classes project.

This year, 81% of children at 17 under-resourced schools in Ghana passed the information and communication technology (ICT) exam at Basic Education Certificate Exam (B.E.C.E.) level.

The B.E.C.E. exam is crucial because it is the exam that determines entry to secondary school. Children from poor families who fail the B.E.C.E. often drop out and face uncertain futures because their parents cannot afford to keep them in school.

In 2015, the first year of the project, 45% of the children at schools that took part in the project passed the ICT exam. The sharp increase to 81% this year is a tribute to your support, and to three years of hard work by mobile librarians in four regions - Ashanti, Upper East, Western and Volta.

With your donations, librarians travel to poor and rural schools every week in library vans packed with solar-charged laptops, modem internet, screens and projectors. The computers are pre-loaded with content related to school subjects like geography, mathematics, science and English. At the schools, the librarians and teachers conduct practical computer skills classes for the children, many of whom had never seen or touched a computer before the project began.

This year, the mobile libraries taught over 3,000 children (1,732 boys and 1,404 girls) in grades 1, 2 and 3. The children, parents and teachers are overjoyed with the exam results.

“The mobile library service has reshaped the quality of teaching and learning at our school by tackling the practical aspect of learning which has been a longstanding problem,” said a teacher at Kpenoe M.A. Junior High School in Volta Region.

On behalf of the children, their parents, the teachers, and the librarians - thank you for your support! EIFL wishes you the very best for the holiday season and for 2018.