Education Minister gives date to open Ghana’s Virtual High School
In collaboration with the Open University in the United Kingdom, Ghana’s first-ever Virtual High School will be opened in the next academic year, the Minister in Charge of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has disclosed.
Speaking at the launch of the Ghana Knowledge and Skills Bank Portal on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, Dr Yaw Adutwum said in the meantime about 10,000 students nationwide will be enrolled in the Virtual Senior High School.
To begin next academic year, he said virtual high school is part of the transformation that the New Patriotic Party (NPP), under the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia intends for the education sector.
The Education Minister indicated that the virtual high school will be hosted on the Skills and Knowledge Bank Portal, where students will go through their studies via the platform, which contains content from the approved curriculum.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum at the Knowledge and Skills Bank launch said Ghana is collaborating with the Open University in the United Kingdom to build virtual labs that will be utilised by students enrolled in the Ghana Virtual High School.
“This will also allow us to establish the first-ever Ghana Virtual High School. It aims to enroll about 10,000 students who will engage in virtual learning. With the support of the UK Open University, we are building virtual labs.
“This will enable students to virtually dissect a frog, for example. So, students can’t say they attended a school without a 21st-century science lab; they couldn’t conduct science experiments.
Science experiments can now be done virtually, and that is the new Ghana. In fact, some of the virtual labs developed were used in the UK but were created by Ghanaian teachers,” the Minister of Education told stakeholders at the event.
Dr. Adutwum emphasised that the digitalization of education by the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led government presents a new opportunity for the nation to increase high school enrolment.
“There will be a significant paradigm shift, and by embracing it and exploring its possibilities, we can establish a better education system that was previously unimaginable
Ten years ago, we never imagined having the Ghana Knowledge Bank, which is now second only to what we see in Egypt. With the infusion of AI, we are moving forward and creating the best learning portal,” he stated.