Ursula Owusu-Ekuful
The Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, has kick started the training of 1000 girls in basic Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) skills, coding, cyber security and website development under the Girls-In-ICT programme.
The beneficiary Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) are Mion, Karaga, Tolon, Kumbungu, Savelugu, Tamale, Nanton, Sagnarigu, Kpandai, Gushegu, Tatali, Nanumba South, Nanumba North, Yendi, Saboba and Zabzugu.
The Girls-In-ICT programme was introduced in 2012 by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider studies and careers in the growing field of ICT.
Minister for Communications and Digitalisation Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, since 2017, has adopted the initiative, as a platform to equip girls between the ages of nine and 15 years with knowledge and skills in basic ICT and Coding.
The programme is implemented with support from Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) as the technical resource provider, with training by Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence (KACE).
The programme is also supported by MTN Ghana, National Communications Authority (NCA), American Towers Company (ATC), Ministry of Education, GIZ and others.
It involves a five-day training of selected girls from the participating region in basic ICT and coding, through which the girls explore the world of technology through the creation of websites, computer games and animation stories, using Scratch.
The Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation has achieved the following between 2017 and 2022: 8,000 Girls have been trained & mentored in the Ashanti, Western, Central, Oti, Western North, North East, Bono, Bono-East and Ahafo, 800 teachers trained to train more girls in ICT, beyond the programme, 43 Cyber labs have been set up, with 120 more being set up this year, 1,267 laptops given to teachers and top-performing girls.
This year, the Ministry targets 5000 girls and 500 teachers from 5 regions to benefit from the programme and the beneficiary regions are Savannah, Northern, Eastern, Volta and Greater Accra.
In spite of these important achievements over the years, and the immense contributions to the MoCD in support of the Programme from various partners, the enormity of the gender digital divide remains a challenge, hence the need to scale up the programme to cover even more girls across Ghana.
The Ministry has also introduced the Girls-in ICT at the tertiary level to encourage young ladies interest to pursue careers in ICT in partnership with Huawei Technologies Ghana, Limited.
In September 2021, 50 (Fifty) female students from the University Students Association of Ghana (USAG) were taken through a Ten (10) day training programme in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data and Cyber Security.
The Ministry appealed for sponsorship from all corporate institutions and interested partners in our quest to impact the lives of our young girls in 2023 and beyond.
BY Eric Kombat, Tamale