Technology in Ghana
Jake
FYS: Green and Global Computing
Cut Off From The World According to the CIA World Fact Book, in 2007, 28.5% of Ghana’s population lives below the poverty line [1]. It is a developing country that has many financially challenged towns. After my father got back from some of his early trips to Ghana, he told me that most of the local people live in small overpopulated shacks and apartment structures, with very little running water for bathing purposes. A large number of the people have difficulty purchasing food and struggle to earn enough money to keep themselves nourished, but will work extremely hard in their jobs. Their jobs consist of carving wood sculptures, making bracelets and drums for the tourists, and many other hand-made crafts. Many Ghanaians barely have the necessities to live anywhere near a normal life, let alone are able to purchase the technological resources to improve their lives.
How can we expect their government to help them connect to the world through internet access? The people of Ghana have started to take it upon themselves to try and send their children to better schools to allow them the opportunity to use computers and get familiarized with technology. The children in Ghana need their parents to send them to private schools in order to try and catch up to most other countries. And they are making strides in this pursuit of advancement. As of 2012 3,569,757 people of 25,292,392 in Ghana use the internet, which is approximately a 6% increase from 2011 [2]. If Ghanaians increase their technology innovations in their fields of research, they will be able to advance those fields, which will in turn, help out the people in Ghana. This will help make the country a safer and more profitable place for their population. The government can help out in internet accessibility and technology innovations by investing time and money into technology. Internet accessibility and technological innovations will help the people in Ghana
FYS: Green and Global Computing
Cut Off From The World According to the CIA World Fact Book, in 2007, 28.5% of Ghana’s population lives below the poverty line [1]. It is a developing country that has many financially challenged towns. After my father got back from some of his early trips to Ghana, he told me that most of the local people live in small overpopulated shacks and apartment structures, with very little running water for bathing purposes. A large number of the people have difficulty purchasing food and struggle to earn enough money to keep themselves nourished, but will work extremely hard in their jobs. Their jobs consist of carving wood sculptures, making bracelets and drums for the tourists, and many other hand-made crafts. Many Ghanaians barely have the necessities to live anywhere near a normal life, let alone are able to purchase the technological resources to improve their lives.
How can we expect their government to help them connect to the world through internet access? The people of Ghana have started to take it upon themselves to try and send their children to better schools to allow them the opportunity to use computers and get familiarized with technology. The children in Ghana need their parents to send them to private schools in order to try and catch up to most other countries. And they are making strides in this pursuit of advancement. As of 2012 3,569,757 people of 25,292,392 in Ghana use the internet, which is approximately a 6% increase from 2011 [2]. If Ghanaians increase their technology innovations in their fields of research, they will be able to advance those fields, which will in turn, help out the people in Ghana. This will help make the country a safer and more profitable place for their population. The government can help out in internet accessibility and technology innovations by investing time and money into technology. Internet accessibility and technological innovations will help the people in Ghana
Cited: [1] World Fact Book: Population below Poverty line, CIA, [online] 2013, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2046.html (Accessed: 2 December 2013). [2] Mumuni Kasule, “Increase of internet usage in Ghana and its implications,” (Ghana Business News), [online] 2013 http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2013/09/19/increase-of-internet-usage-in-ghana-and-its-implications/ (Accessed: 24 November 2013). [3] Moomen, Abdul, “Air Transport in Ghana: some climatic constraints,” Aviation, vol. 16, (3) pp. 88-95, 2012. [4] Ignatius Fosu, “Exploring the potential of wireless technologies to accelerate universal Internet access in Ghana,” Telecommunications Policy, vol. 35, (6) pp. 494- 504, 2011 [5] Armah, Angelina, “Use of Internet Services in Ghanaian University Libraries,” African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science, vol. 19, (1) pp. 79-87, 2009. [6] Mutale, Wilbroad, “Improving health information systems for decision making across five sub-Saharan African countries: Implementation strategies from the African Health Initiative,” BMC Health Services Research, vol. 13, (1) pp.1-12, 2013. [7] Ewusi-Mensah, Kwelu, “Problem of information technology diffusion in sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Ghana,” Information Technology for Development, vol. 18, (3) pp. 247-269, 2012. [8] Trained Teachers in Primary Education in Ghana, Trading Economics, [online] 2012, http://www.tradingeconomics.com/ghana/trained-teachers-in-primary-education-percent-of-total-teachers-wb-data.html (Accessed: 2 December 2013).