Ministry of education in Ghana is commited to providing all possible technical and financial support to the universities in Africa by assisting them to collaborate and share facilities such as laboratories, instruments and libraries. The government is studying a programme to provide schools and universities more access to personal computers, internet and support the development of research and educational networks. Dr. Joseph Annan, Deputy Minister of Education in- charge of Tertiary Education has said “We encourage the universities to also take the initiative and begin to connect to each other to accelerate the emergence of network clusters that would join to create the National Research and Education Network (NREN)”. University authorities in Africa need to be efficient in the use of bandwidth irrespective of the amount involved to generate enough savings for the various institutions. More efficient networks and better use of core resources will be achieved through bandwidth management according to the minister.
“Therefore, a workshop that prepares the professionals with knowledge of system tools required to build and manage these emerging networks is an opportunity,” he added. The African Network Operators Group (AFNOG) Workshop on Network Technology aims to offer advanced training to people who are in the process of developing and enhancing an Internet-connected network with regional and international connectivity. The target audience includes senior and mid-level technical staff of commercial internet service providers, academic networks, government networks or non-governmental organisations networks. This workshop builds on the experience of previous AFNOG workshops held since 2000 in 10 different African countries, and also the Internet Society's International Network for Education Transformation (INET) workshops, held annually from 1993 to 200
