Gold Fields Ghana Foundation hands over $68,000 smart lab to Atuabo School
Gold fields Ghana Foundation has handed over a $68,000 Smart Laboratory and Innovation Centre to the Atuabo Basic School, in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem municipality of the Western Region.
The facility is critical for students to foster hands-on training, nurture creativity and problem-solving abilities as well as prepare them for future.
It is equipped with 50 high-performance tablets with a charging cabinet, 20 coding and robotics kits, two Lego Prime robotics kits, 10 Arduino kits, three Quest Virtual Reality headsets, two laptops for the instructors, a projector and a router for internet connectivity.
In addition to teaching the mandatory computational skills, the facility will also train pupils from all 10 basic schools in this community, as well as any interested adult in basic robotics and AI at a fee.
The facility is well equipped to handle courses such as Introduction to Robotics and Coding with mBot; Introduction to Arduino Programming using Tinkercard and Physical Computing with Micro bits.
Speaking at the ceremony on Friday, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Gold Fields Ghana, Elliot Twum, said with the growing Intelligence (AI) and Robotics, the Foundation set up a Smart Lab and Innovation Centre, as a pilot project for advancing the integration of technology and digital tools into the teaching and learning experience.
“This is referred to as Education 4.0 and it promotes learners’ independence as well as provides personalised learning,” he said.
Mr Twum recalled that in 2022, the Ghana Education Service (GES) introduced Computational Thinking as part of the curriculum for basic school education in Ghana.
Unfortunately, he said, a lot of the public basic schools in the country did not have the facilities to support the teaching and learning of the subject.
“Government alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of development. An economy such as ours may not be able to provide all public schools with the gadgets and resources required for the new age of education,” Mr Twum explained.
According to Gold Fields Managing Director, the Foundation had over the years, invested over $10million to help secure the future of young people in the host communities, provided scholarships, classroom blocks, libraries and ICT centres.
Others included early childhood development centres, teaching and learning materials, accommodation for teachers and the education directorate, Mr Twum said.
The Acting Western Regional Director of the GES, Mr George Effah, in an address read for him urged the headteachers, staff, and learners to put measures in place to derive the full benefits of this facility.
The Chief of Atuabo, Nana Kweku Baah II, thanked the Foundation for the support in the catchment area over the years, and also urged the school management committee to ensure the maintenance of the Smart facility.
The Queen Mother of Apinto, Nana Abena Baduwa II, also praised the Foundation for their corporate social interventions for the communities in their operational area.
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, NEW ATUABO
