Accra, Nov. 16, GNA – Huawei Ghana, in collaboration with Rebecca Foundation, has begun a digital technologies training in Coding and Financial Technology (Fintech) for Junior High School (JHS) students in rural 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++ as well as economically empowering women in the Northern, Western and Eastern regions.
It is also to enable them to take advantage of digital technologies to improve their livelihoods.
The pilot of the training, which began in Damongo in the Northern region, had benefitted 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.
First Lady Mrs Rebecca Akuffo-Addo, in a short kickoff meeting, commended Huawei for positively partnering with the Rebecca Foundation to train more girls and women, especially in digital technologies to bridge the gender gap in ICTs.
Mrs Akuffo-Addo, who is the Founder of the Foundation, mentioned that the Foundation was keen on embarking on activities and initiatives aimed at the socio-economic development of children and women across the country and the partnership with Huawei was in line with the objective.
Mrs Jenny Zhou, the Director of Public Relations for Huawei Ghana, said Huawei was passionate about grooming more women in technology and as a result would continue to undertake such programmes to positively impact societies.
She said the initiative was 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.
Mr Karimu Kusubari, the Municipal Chief Executive 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.
Mr Katribe Dramani, the Director of Education for the West Gonja Municipality, tasked the students to become ambassadors of ICT and ensure that what they learnt was put to good use.
The training is expected to benefit cumulatively, 400 more women and children from Mpohor in the Western Region and Asamankese in the Eastern region of Ghana.
It is also to empower students to become the future creators of technology by exploring programming to start building upon their computational thinking skills in their early childhood.
This training comes as part of Huawei’s promise to President Nana Akuffo Addo to train 10,000 Ghanaians in ICT by 2024.
GNA