By Eugene Nyarko Jnr. l Accra, Ghana l November 4, 2025:
The Cyber Security Authority (CSA) has announced that Ghana’s education sector has been officially classified as Critical Information Infrastructure (CII)—a designation that underscores its vital role in national security, stability, and sustainable development.
The declaration was made by the Acting Director-General of the CSA, Mr. Divine Selase Agbeti, during the inaugural National Cybersecurity Education Conference, where he emphasized the urgent need to safeguard Ghana’s educational institutions from a growing range of cyber threats.
Mr. Agbeti cited the surge in admission scams, cyberbullying, data breaches, sextortion, and the forgery of academic certificates as major challenges threatening the credibility of institutions and the safety of students.
“Our education sector has been designated as Critical Information Infrastructure, and its protection is essential to our national security, stability, and development,” he stated.
Under the Cyber Security Act 2020 (Act 1038), the CSA has prioritized education as a key pillar of Ghana’s national cyber resilience strategy. As part of this agenda, the Authority is driving efforts to integrate cybersecurity across all levels of teaching, learning, and institutional management.
Recently, the CSA collaborated with the Ministry of Education’s technical working group to review the ICT in Education Policy, ensuring cybersecurity, data protection, and digital ethics are central to the policy framework. Mr. Agbeti urged the Education Minister to expedite its approval, describing its implementation as “a major milestone in securing Ghana’s digital education ecosystem.”
He also revealed that the CSA had contributed to Ghana’s EdTech strategy, embedding cybersecurity protocols to create safer and more resilient digital learning environments. The framework, he explained, will support coordinated responses to threats such as ransomware attacks, data breaches, and online exploitation across universities and tertiary institutions.
Highlighting the Authority’s national awareness efforts, Mr. Agbeti disclosed that between January and October 2023, the CSA had reached over 5.6 million adults through training and outreach programs—an exponential increase from 102,000 in 2022.
However, he emphasized that cybersecurity education should transcend IT specializations and become a core component of all disciplines.
“Cybersecurity can no longer be limited to IT departments or computer science labs. It must become as essential as literacy or numeracy,” he said.
Mr. Agbeti further noted that real transformation would occur when “a nursing student learns to protect patient data, when a business student grasps privacy in E-commerce, and when a teacher trainee is prepared to guide children safely online.”
He concluded by commending the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), and Accra Technical University for hosting the landmark conference, expressing optimism that it will evolve into an annual platform to strengthen collaboration between cybersecurity education and professional practice.
