A portal to enhance knowledge and skills acquisition by the youth in the country was launched in Accra yesterday.

Under the Ghana Knowledge and Skills Bank (GKSB) project, the portal provides a wide array of educational materials including content from reputable sources such as Cambridge University Press, and Cengage Learning.

In addition, the portal has an online ed­ucation material developed by the Centre for National Distance Learning and Open Schooling (CENDLOS) and the Gha­na Education Service as well as a space where the youth who want to develop their skills in artisanship can do so.

With an audio visual component in Ghanaian languages, every individual can access the portal.

The platform will bring together stu­dents, teachers and lecturers, publishers and other stakeholders in the teaching and learning sector.

An initiative of the Ministry of Com­munications and Digitalisation, the proj­ect is being funded by the World Bank and supported by MTN Ghana.

Ghana is the second country in Africa after Egypt to develop such a system to facilitate learning and skills acquisition.

Speaking at the launch of the portal in Accra, the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs Ursula Owu­su-Ekuful, said the implementation of the GKSB project was under the eTransform project, which began in 2015.

She said the eTransform Ghana project, which is an Investment Project Financing (IPF) supported by an IDA financing is to improve the efficiency and coverage of government service delivery using Infor­mation Communication Technologies.

The Minister said as part of the e-Transform project her outfit had the privilege of developing the GSKB portal designed to provide students with access to a vast array of educational resources and access to quality education in all cor­ners of Ghana.

She said the portal, which is a mobile application could be accessed both online and offline. "So it doesn't matter where you are or which class of school you are in, you have access to the same resources as your peers in the most advanced educational institu­tions in this country," the Minister stated.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the portal had career planning tools and Artificial Intelli­gence integration for examination prepa­ration and a personal tutor which can help the youth to learn at their own pace.

The Minister of Communications and Digitalisation explained that the portal had integrated resources from global platforms and local researchers.

The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, for his part, said the por­tal was to change the face of the learning environment for the youth across the country. "We have to change the learning envi­ronment.

Because I believe that we can­not educate 21st century children in 19th century buildings and expect 21st century outcomes.

It's not going to happen," he said.

The Minister said the portal was opened to the youth from the basic to the tertiary level across the country.

Dr Adutwum explained that the portal was designed such that if a student did not understand a content in English, he or she could request to be taught in his or her local language. "So the portal is bringing language, culture and content acquisition really to the doorstep of every Ghanaian student.

So this is what you will see in the next few months in Ghanaian high school class­rooms," the Minister disclosed.  BY KINGSLEY ASARE