Huawei Ghana in collaboration with Rebecca Foundation has begun a digital technologies training in coding for Junior High School (JHS) students in rural areas of the country.
The two organisations are also holding Financial Technology (Fintech) training for women in deprived areas.
The training comes as part of efforts to improve the digital literacy skills of children by exposing them to the basic coding skills and programming languages like HTML, Scratch and C++.
It is also to economically empower women at the Northern, Western and Eastern regions of Ghana to enable them take advantage of digital technologies to improve their livelihoods.
The pilot of the training which begun on November 8, 2021 at Damongo, in the Northern Region, has benefited 50 traders and 150 Junior High School students from Kurabaso JHS, Jafo JHS, Cathedral JHS, Yabum JHS, Presby JHS, St. Anne’s JHS, Jakpa JHS, Damongo Girls Model JHS and Canteen JHS.
In a short kickoff meeting, Ghana’s First Lady and founder of Rebecca Foundation, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, commended Huawei for positively partnering the Rebecca Foundation to train more girls and women, especially in digital technologies to bridge the gender gap in ICTs.
She mentioned that the foundation is keen on embarking on activities and initiatives aimed at the socio-economic development of children and women across the country, adding that the partnership with Huawei is in line with this objective.
The Director of Public Relations for Huawei Ghana, Jenny Zhou, indicated during the meeting that Huawei is passionate about grooming more women in technology and as a result will continue to undertake such programmes to positively impact societies.
According to her, the initiative is in line with the 10th anniversary celebration of International Girls in ICT Day and Huawei’s Seeds for the Future – Women in Tech programme aimed at stimulating the interest of girls and young women in tech through training, workshops, career guidance and mentorship.
In his remarks, the Municipal Chief Executive, Karimu Kusubari of the West Gonja Municipality commended Huawei Ghana and the Rebecca Foundation for bringing the digital technologies training to their doorstep and for including the district.
He entreated the students to take the training seriously and impact other children with the knowledge earned. He also called on Huawei to expand the training to cover more students in the municipality next year.
In addressing the students, Mr. Katribe Dramani, the Director of Education for the West Gonja Municipality also tasked the students to become ambassadors of ICT and ensure that what they have been taught, is put to good use.
The training is expected to benefit cumulatively, 400 more women and children from Mpohor at the Western Region and Asamankese at the Eastern Region of Ghana and empower students to become the future creators of technology by exploring programming to start building upon their computational thinking skills in their early childhood.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri