About thousand girls in basic school gets training in ICT

The Ministry of Communications and Digitization has offered training to thousands of young girls in basic computing.

The training is aimed at exposing and alleviating the beneficiaries from the fear of studying science and Information Communication Technology (ICT).

The Girls in ICT initiative is to train five thousand young girls and five hundred Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teachers in basic computing, coding, and scratch HCML among others by the end of this year.

These girls are selected from all the districts of the beneficiary regions thus, Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Savanna, and Northern regions.

The Girls in ICT initiative was adopted in 2012 by a member state of the international telecommunications union as part of measures to bridge the gender digital divide existing in the ICT sector worldwide and also to help achieve Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 5 for quality education and gender equality respectively.

The training of thousands of girls in the Bono East region seeks to expose them to the opportunities existing in the sector, inspire them to embrace ICT and studies in Science Technology Engineering Mathematics, and Innovation (STEM I), raise awareness amongst them and ultimately get them to pursue careers in these fields as the whole world migrates to increase the use of digital platforms.

In her speech during the Bono East National Girls-In-ICT Day at Techiman, the Minister of Communications and Digitization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, asserted that ICT is the driver of the world today.

The Deputy Minister of Education in charge of TVET, Gifty Twum-Ampofo, entreated the participants to remain focused on their education to be able to attain higher heights.

She admonished the girls to put into practice what they have learned and avoid teenage pregnancies.

The Senior Manager for Network Performance and SNA at MTN Ghana, Engineer Luisa Ama Sosu, said they partnered with the Communications Ministry as part of their corporate social responsibility to ensure the sustainability of the program.

The program was climaxed with awards where some outstanding trainers, as well as 100 girls, were awarded laptops, whereas the best three girls received cash awards and other incentives.

Eleven-year-old Princess Kumi from the Pru West district emerged as the overall best in the ICT program.