The University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) has unveiled its Laptop Library Initiative, which is aimed at providing digital access to students at the school.
The initiative was launched on November 30, 2023, at the Amegashie Auditorium under the theme, ‘Providing Technology Access to Elevate Learning and Research.’ The event was spearheaded by the Dean of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Prof. Justice Bawole.
Speaking at the launch, Prof. Bawole emphasized the purpose of the initiative: to create an environment conducive to elevated learning and enhanced research capabilities.
‘‘Now, the essence of the Laptop Library is to provide digital access to our students. For many reasons, a lot of students do not have a laptop of their own, and often, when there are assignments or projects to be done, students who do not have laptops struggle. We are taking this initiative to create a platform where every student can have access to a laptop when they need it.”
The Dean explained how the initiative will be carried out, revealing that about a hundred laptops will be used by an estimated three hundred students.
“Currently, we are going to have at least a hundred laptops in the laptop library. We are running this as a pilot project for a year, and we will review it. If we get a lot of cooperation and see responsible behaviour from our students, a lot more libraries will be deployed into the initiative so that at any point in time, there can be so many laptops for students to use.”
“So the hundred laptops we have will be available for use by at least three hundred students on a particular weekend, which means that literally everybody can have a laptop to use.”
He also shed light on the funding aspect of the Laptop Library Initiative, emphasizing that the primary source is donations. Despite an initial provision of 100 laptops, Prof. Bawole appealed to Corporate Ghana to join hands in expanding the library’s capacity.
‘‘All the laptops that we are using for this project were donated by Corporate Ghana. I wish to use this opportunity to appreciate Corporate Ghana and also appeal to them to support us more in this initiative. I have close to eight thousand students on the main campus alone, another eight thousand on the Accra city campus, and an extra twelve thousand across Ghana only in the business programs. This means we will need to cover as many students as possible; starting with a hundred is great, but certainly this is inadequate to meet the needs of our students.”
Also present at the event, AG President of Business House Junior Common Room, BHJCR-University of Ghana Business School, Senanu Tetteh Akakbo, conveyed gratitude for the impactful Laptop Library Initiative. He outlined the potential benefits this initiative holds for students in alignment with their academic needs.
‘‘We are very excited about this initiative. This initiative would actually help mitigate instances where students miss out on their assignments and project work.”
In giving the closing remarks, Provost of the College of Humanities, Prof. Daniel Frimpong Ofori, encouraged students to utilize these tools for productive purposes in their academic journey.
‘‘This is a fantastic initiative. We are giving you laptops, and we are trusting you that you are going to be doing something useful. We want you to consider yourselves pioneers, so give us a reason not to cut this initiative, which is addressing digital poverty. We are giving you the tools, and we want you to be worthy ambassadors of them.”
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Story by: Joycelyn Makafui Agbo | univers.ug.edu.gh
