A search engine to ease the hassle of parents and guardians in the quest for a good school for their children in Ghana was launched at the British Council last Friday, July 18, 2014.

The portal, “easyschoolfind.com” has a comprehensive database of both private and government schools from pre-school to senior high school level, according to Edmund Asamoah, a technical partner of Digital Education Group, builders of the site and parent company of E-toys & More.

“It took a lot of effort because we had to basically think about what the customer’s needs are and how to make it as user-friendly as possible. So we first had to develop the business and functional element of the site. Once we were able to iron that out then we now went into the design and development of the site”, he revealed.

The site enables schools to submit their names, contact details and location to administrators of easyschoolfind.com who will verify and subsequently put those details up, free of charge.

However, for a fee schools can get additional services such as inclusion of the school’s Grade, downloadable admission forms, a detailed but concise ‘About Us’, location on Google Map, Social Media presence and prominence on easyschoolfind.com, among others.

“It took a year to get to where we are today. Most of the time went into making sure that the business process made sense. Once the business process made sense then the development and design were much easier. So the business process took most of the time” Mr Asamoah added.

“It is very very affordable”, says George Sackey Jnr, CEO of E-toys & More.

“If you look at the number of hits that various search engines get…you don’t need to be told that the best place to position your product and whatever you are doing as a school or a business is where it will attract several thousands of people”, he said.

The portal also makes room for listings of extra curriculum programmes such as piano lessons, language lessons, educational trips, among others for a fee.

Professor Stephen Adei, who was the special guest of honour at the launch of the site lauded the initiative.

He said the search engine, a first in Ghana, will enable parents outside Ghana looking for the best schools for their ward to do so in the comfort of their homes and without resort to recommendations by friends which could be misleading.

A staff of Beacon College International, Juliana Addai, who was at the launch, said the portal couldn’t have come at a better time.

“What we normally do is to send out flyers out and sometimes give out T-Shirts…but with this initiative, at a click we can make ourselves known and parents can get to choose schools they’d want their child to attend”, she added.

“I would really urge schools to showcase their schools on the platform because as we all know the world right now is shifting very quickly from the traditional forms of marketing and advertising and everything right now is e-marketing”, said Mr George Sackey Jnr.