By Victoria Agyemang /Nana Oye Gyimah, GNA
Cape Coast, Nov.09, GNA – More than 980 girls selected from primary and junior High Schools (JHS) across the Central Region have benefitted from this year's National Information, Communication and Technology (ICT initiative) training workshop for girls.
The two-week ‘Girls in ICT initiative’ organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications and sponsored by the National Communications Authority (NCA) and Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications, is a programme that seeks to expose young girls to basic programming and creative skills to improve their critical thinking abilities as they develop their career interest.
It also inspires and empowers young girls to take up career roles in technology related subjects and careers as well as close the gap in that area, which is generally perceived as male dominated.
Closing the workshop held on the theme: “Transforming Lives and Changing Attitudes" at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful, the Minister of Communications underscored the importance of instilling the “can do spirit” in girls to demystify the notion that technology careers were too complex to be pursued by girls.
The closing of the workshop coincided with the celebration of the Girls in ICT Day in the Region.
"The initiative is a critical national imperative that gives girls the skills they need to be able to succeed and that is why the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) institutionalized the girls in ICT initiative as a global one celebrated annually by it member states".
She noted that ICT was the fastest growing sector that permeates all sectors and facets of the human life globally and encouraged corporate entities to support the initiative to train and encourage more girls into that field.
Mrs. Frema Osei Opare, Chief Of Staff who was the Guest of Honour, said ICT ensured a dramatic transformation of the world and enabled individuals, firms, and the Government to have better access to information and knowledge.
Mr. Kwamena Duncan, the Central Regional Minister, said ICT had been the driving force for socio-economic and political development of every country, which was changing the world and transforming societies for the better.
The Regional Minister, appealed to all to champion and invest in the initiative as it would help inform and educate young girls especially in remote areas about the essence of having insight of ICT, which also lift the social and cultural barriers.
Mrs. Gifty Twum Ampofo, Deputy Education Minister, urged girls to pursue ICT related careers and not consider it as a male dominated field, adding that a lot of women who defied the odds, were now successful in their career areas.
She said it was the Ministry of Education’s vision to collaborate further with the Ministry of Communication to get more centres in all schools starting from the basic to the highest level to empower more girls in ICT.
At the end of the programme, the best 100 trainees, coordinators, and teachers were given laptops each while the first 20 girls received free Turbo internet connection for six months.
They would also have ICT laboratory centres built or upgraded in their respective schools.
The best three were awarded cash prices in addition to the general prices.
The Minister of Communication later promised to build an ICT centre for the five special schools in the region including, the Cape Coast School for the Deaf and Blind.
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