School ICT

Psychic Reading and ICT

We have the age of the school men, the age of the industrial revolution and the jet age. Our age can best be described as the age of Information and communication technology (ICT). In our era which is the age of information and communication technology horoscope reading has followed the spirit of the age. Psychic readers have taken the activities online. The internet provides the setting for psychic reading now.

There are many web sites that offer psychic reading to people who need it. The internet introduces comfort and flexibility to in the practice of tarot reading.

Besides, the internet ICT provides for psychic reader another medium and setting for they activities. They telephone is another powerful gadgets which the ICT bequest to psychic readers for easy performance of their activities. Horoscope reading can be done using the telephone.

This great rapport between new age reading and ICT has lots of benefits to the practice of psychic reading. Online astrology reading makes the end of person to person encounter between the psychic reader and the psychic seeker. You can do psychic reading at any place in the world without being seen. Psychic reading is more flexible now than before.

You can even share experience with other psychic seeker by chatting with them.

However, some people have expressed fear and dissatisfaction with this rapport between psychic reading and information and communication technology. They point to the fact that the use of internet for psychic reading will provide avenue for some fake psychic readers to defraud people. Again, as normal with the growing people, some of them can create fake web sites on psychic reading just fun.

All Information and Communication Technology (ICT) minded countries such as China, Singapore, Malaysia, India and others, that are becoming super ICT nations on this planet of technology did not achieve their feat overnight. On Tuesday, October 7, 2008, hardworking Ghanaian teachers were rewarded with mouth-watering prizes. The event took place at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana and coincided with the 14th National Best Teacher Award/World Teachers' Day, celebrated globally. This writer wishes to join hands with the Government and people of Ghana to say kudos to the Ghanaian Teacher. As a matter of fact, Ghana Government must be commended for the magnificent prizes presented to the award winning teachers. The Daily Graphic of Wednesday, October 8, 2008, carried a front page banner headline: "COMPUTER PER CHILD - Govt's initiative to boost ICT skills in public schools." According to the story, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States of America (USA), had designed some computers that would enable Ghanaian children to acquire skills in Information and Communication Technology, "which is currently the most critical basic instrument of education world-wide," the paper stressed.

President Kufuor used the occasion to disclose that the deal for the supply of the computers was negotiated on behalf of the Government by the late Finance Minister, Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu about two years ago. Well, this writer is not in any position to know how these computers will be distributed equitably for the benefit of all public schools in the country. 1. Even before the "magic computers" land on our soil, there must be "magic" ICT teachers who can use the machines to teach the children in the first place. So, if this is not yet done, then one or two experts who manufactured the computers must come down to provide some kind of "Train-the-trainers" programme for ICT teachers in Ghana without delay.

2. Where possible, all public schools in the 170 districts in the country must be supplied with these computers for children. The truth is that some Ghanaians are yet to see a computer in some parts of our country let alone use one.

It may be better that way rather than some school heads, suffering from "computer phobia" to dump the machines in some uncompleted buildings somewhere with the excuse that there are no computer laboratories in their schools.

On Friday, August 1, 2008, the Daily Graphic wrote a very pathetic editorial headed: "That all may access the Internet." It reads:

"A PATHETIC picture was painted of the country's poor Internet use and standing on the African continent, with Ghana placing only ahead of Sierra Leone and Liberia."

Ghana, a country that we Ghanaians always claim to be the first in everything and anything in Africa, is sharing a position with Sierra Leone and Liberia in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on the African Continent. Graphic editorial continued: "This sordid state of affairs should be cause for concern to everybody in the 21st century when Information and Communication Technology (ICT) rules the world"

The third paragraph opined: "Ghana's hold on mobile phone patronage, undoubtedly, is high, as every nook and cranny of the country is somehow connected to some of the major mobile networks. The editorial quoted from 2007 World Bank report on the Internet use in the world, which said that, "only 401,300 Ghanaians, representing 1.8 percent of the country's population of an estimated 22 million, have access to the Internet."

"The report cited Ghana as one of the African countries with the lowest record of Internet patronage, coming behind South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Senegal." The question is, how come Ghana, the most peaceful and stable country in Africa should be trailing behind these countries when Ghana has a comprehensive ICT Policy, known as ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) in place?

"According to him, the government should waive taxes and duties on computers and their accessories to allow for more importation of computers into the country in order to promote the use of computers and the Internet in schools and at workplaces.

"That Internet facilities and access to the personal computers enhance teaching and learning and increase the productivity of business can no longer be relegated to the background. But it is one thing having access to the personal computers and another having access to the Internet."

This writer finds this point made by Graphic editorial very, very relevant. In countries like Singapore and others where ICT is leading them to become world superpower, they ensure that all pupils and students at various stages of the educational ladder, ranking from kindergarten the tertiary levels, computer and Internet facilities are made available for their studies. Students do their home works online and email them to their teachers for marking online.

In Ghana, the situation is diametrically the opposite. The evidence is that on the letters page of the Daily Graphic of the same Friday, August 1, 2008 when this pathetic editorial was written, there was a letter to the editor (page9), complaining about lack of computers in schools in Ghana. That letter, written by one Emmanuel Toklo of Gbawe Cluster of Schools, was captioned: "ICT with no computer?"

If Government waives taxes and duties on computers and their accessories as recommended in the Graphic editorial under review, would importers of ICT equipment respond positively and reduce the prices of their goods for the benefit of the ordinary people, especially school pupils and students in this particular case?

Right now Government has embarked upon the establishment of Community Information Centers (CICs) in all the 230 constituencies to take ICT closer to the door steps of rural communities and deprived zones in the country.