False! Not all SHS teachers have received laptops

The Education Ministry’s public relations officer, Kwesi Kwarteng, has said that every senior high school teacher has received a laptop to enhance teaching under the government’s ‘1 teacher 1 laptop’ initiative.

He said this on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, on TV3’s New Day show, a day after the launch of the government’s SMART Schools Project which seeks to distribute 1.3 million tablets to senior high schools and technical and vocational educational training schools.

Fact-check Ghana has verified the claim and presents the findings below.

Claim: “At the SHS level, every teacher has received their laptop.”

Verdict: Completely false

Explanation: Until April 2, 2024, three pre-tertiary teachers’ union groups were on an industrial strike. The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH) declared the strike over what they described as poor conditions of service.

The strike was declared on March 20, 2024, four days before the government’s launch of the SMART Schools Project.

Among their concerns was the incomplete distribution of laptops to teachers which was launched on September 3, 2021, and expected to be completed on December 17, 2021.

Fact-check Ghana contacted Michael Ayuraboya, the General Secretary of NAGRAT who dismissed Kweku Kwarteng’s claim.

“That’s a lie! It’s obvious what he said is not true. On the day they were launching the student’s laptops, the teachers were already on strike. One of the issues for the strike was teachers’ laptops that have not been distributed. We went to the Labour Commission and the ruling was that ‘give the laptops by the end of June’,” he said.

From the findings above, Kwasi Kwarteng’s claim that all Senior High School teachers have received a laptop under the 1 teacher 1 laptop initiative is completely false.