Minister of Education Haruna Iddrisu has revealed that some senior high school students are using government-issued tablets for watching pornographic content instead of accessing academic materials.
Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, November 28, the minister said his attention had been drawn to the fact that several of the devices, distributed under the Free SHS programme, were not properly customised—leaving students able to browse unrestricted content.
“My attention this morning, Mr Speaker, was drawn to the fact that many of the devices are not customised and the students are using them for other purposes, including pornography, which is not acceptable,” he told the House.
The government intends to distribute about 1.3 million tablets to support digital learning nationwide, with approximately 980,000 devices already delivered to schools. The tablets are pre-loaded with curriculum materials to aid teaching and learning.
Mr Iddrisu explained that he inherited the $337 million digital learning contract and that the rollout is being supported by GETFund. However, he said the lack of full customisation on some devices had created room for misuse.
The Minister stressed that government views the development with utmost seriousness and will introduce stronger controls to prevent inappropriate use of the tablets.
“Government is taking a high view of it, and there must be restrictions as to what the tablets can be used for, and it should be used strictly for the purpose of study,” he said.
He added that as Ghana seeks to prepare learners to compete globally, investment in digital skills and technology must be accompanied by safeguards that keep the focus on learning.
“The curriculum is offloaded onto the tablet. It will facilitate digital learning. We are to be mindful that when you are training students, you are training them to be globally competitive,” he noted.
The Ministry is expected to outline new measures to curb the misuse of the devices as the nationwide distribution continues.
