The Ghana Knowledge and Skills Bank (GKSB) is a comprehensive digital educational hub (portal) that will give students access to educational materials. It is an online tutoring and a platform for students to interact and study.
The platform has enormous resources and learning materials, including past questions. It is a free-access platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and has options for self-learning and self-assessment.
The portal also has a career planning tool, and an online tutoring system that assists users to overcome their challenges in any topic or subject area.
Most importantly, the portal can be accessed offline, making it possible for users to download the resource materials and later have access to them without the use of the internet.
Users also have the option of accessing the online tutoring in local languages, resolving any language challenge that would impede access to the portal.
The portal, which is now live at www.gksb.gov.gh can be utilized by students at all levels.
It was developed by a local technological company, Nponto Technologies. Its creation is a part of the government’s digitalization agenda, with support from the World Bank.
Ghana is the second country in Africa after Egypt to have such a national digital educational infrastructure.
The skills bank was launched yesterday (September 17th) by the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister of Communications and Digitalization, was also present. The occasion was held at the Accra Digital Centre.
Background
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful explained that the GKSB was initially part of the e-transform project, which started in 2015 but stalled. The government revived it in 2017 by negotiating with the World Bank. It was then integrated into GKSB the e-transform successor.
This effort resulted in the $200 million Ghana Digital Accelerated Project, successfully implemented in June this year.
“Under this new project, we have had the privilege of designing the GKSB, which provides students a vast array of resources and gives them access to quality education in all corners of Ghana,” she said.
Digitalization
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful described the portal as a momentous acquisition that pointed to the importance of digitalization at the center of the transformation that would take the country to the next level of development.
She described it as a significant milestone towards digital transformation and inclusive development and a step in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: inclusive and sustainable education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.
She said digitalization and technology had enormous opportunities, which must be harnessed in all fields, including education, for sustainable development and growth.
“In a world driven by technology, it is absolutely imperative that we harness the power of technology to evolutionize the way we teach and learn,” she added.
The Minister of Communication said the government had made digitalisation the cornerstone of its development agenda.
She explained that this move spurred massive investment in digital infrastructure and platforms. Adding the increase in internet connectivity across over 900 government institutions. This includes metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies (MMDAs).
Collaboration
Dr Adutwum said the skills bank was a testament of the government’s commitment to take education to a higher level. Done by creating an enabling teaching and learning environment and making education accessible to all through technology.
“We want to lift teaching and learning to the highest standard to ensure that our education is competitive with the rest of the world. I do not understand why we cannot have the best students in the world coming from Ghana,” he added.
Currently, he said, the government had embarked on transforming education through infrastructural development and the provision of digital tools such as tablets to students and teachers.
He lauded the collaboration between the ministries of Communication and Education, which, he said, brought the project into fruition.
“Serious change is going to happen if we digitilise. There will be smart board, tablet for every student, tied into a learning management system. With the GKSB, the students can go online and type all the resources available,” he added.
The co-founder of Nponto Technologies, Deborah Asmah, appealed to teachers and educators to help expand the resources on the portal. They can do this by uploading their teaching materials and other useful information.
“Now the platform is ready and it does not have all the resources, so we appeal to teachers to go online and upload their contents on it, and they will be rewarded,” she added.
Source: graphiconline
