The Ministry of communications and Digitalisation (MoCD) has started the third phase of the Girls-In-ICT program in the Eastern Region.
The program starts with the training of 100 Teachers in Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) as part of the Girls-In-ICT programme which seeks to encourage girls to take up interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
The programme which was officially opened yesterday at Koforidua in the Eastern Region will provide an intensive one-week training workshop in Database, Computer Programming, Animation, Cybersecurity, Coding, Scratch and other basics in ICT skills.
The training is to equip the 100 teachers selected from all the 33 districts with the necessary skills and knowledge to prepare them to train the 1000 selected girls from the region.
A speech read on behalf of the Sector Minister, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (MP), said, the Training of Trainers program was crucial for maintaining and sharing knowledge among teachers in schools. While ICT was already part of the curriculum, the new skills that the teachers would acquire through the Training of Trainers would enhance their teaching abilities for the benefit of the 1000 Girls to be trained and other girls who were not selected.
She mentioned that the Ministry and its implementing agencies including Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (KACE), Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), MTN Ghana, GIZ, and American Tower Corporation (ATC ) were all passionate about the success of the Girls-in-ICT Initiative, hence, it was important that participants take advantage of the programme and prove themselves worthy and up to the task.
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful commended the Eastern Regional Minister for efforts made to host the event – adding, that the collaboration between the Ministry and Regional Coordinating Council was also key to implementing the project in the Eastern Region.
According to her, the Girls-In-ICT train has had a significant impact in every region it has passed through, and it is expected to leave a mark in the eastern region as well.
For his part, the Eastern Regional Minister, Hon. Seth Kwame Acheampong, expressed that he was happy the Girls-in-ICT initiative was adopted as part of measures to bridge the Gender Digital gap existing within the ICT sector, as well as to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of equal access to education (SDG 4) and Gender equity (SDG 5).
Hon. Acheampong noted that the initiative has therefore brought an opportunity for “our girls to be exposed to ICT at an early stage and enable them gain an experience with the basics of the computer so that they could be guided in choosing courses and subjects relating to their career development in the future.The girls cannot gain these experiences on their own without the guidance and directions of their own ICT teachers who they are familiar with and can confide in when it comes to the impartation of knowledge, skills and abilities”.
He said it was of utmost importance that, the teachers focus and concentrate on the training and crap all important information necessary for bringing transformation to our girls and their generation.
“We all know that, this generation is governed by among other things the internet therefore, there is a need to give them the necessary skills and opportunities to create wealth and secure their future. ICT has changed how people live. it has become a tool for our economic, interpersonal, societal transactions and interactions and it is important that we understand the rudiments of ICT so that it can be used to our advantage now and in the future”, he commented.
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com/Kwabena Nyarko Abronoma
