Koforidua, April 30, GNA – Plan International Ghana has urged young girls to study Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to help them be abreast of the fast-growing digitalised economies of the world.
The children’s rights organisation said ICT education would enhance the girls’ numeracy, literacy skills, and knowledge, as well as provide them with numerous opportunities in the digital world.
“Girls and young women need secure and dependable access to the internet and digital tools to excel in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM),” Mr Solomon Tesfamariam, the Country Director of Plan International Ghana, said at this year’s Girls in ICT Day in Koforidua.
The Day was commemorated on the theme: “Access and Safety” by female students from second cycle institutions in the Eastern Region, including Mamfe Methodist Girls Senior High School, Koforidua Technical Institute, and Hyundai-Koica Dream Centre.
It is a global movement that encourages young women to pursue STEM and Arts education, which are linked to ICT.
Mr Tesfamariam recommended the young women to use computers wisely for their studies and avoid the practice of publishing images of themselves online, as well as exchanging contacts and email addresses, as that might expose them to online abuse and mistreatment.
Plan International Ghana was working with the Cyber Security Authority to find solutions to increase the safety of both boys and girls participating in online activities, he said.
Madam Patricia Birago Gyamfi, the Ghana Education Service’s Eastern Regional Coordinator for Girl-Child Education, said women and girls were now at the forefront of every area of life and technology had caught up with them.
She advised females to make use of the many E-learning platforms and online skills training that were accessible to them.
She said GES was investing heavily in STEM and a senior high school for STEM education was being constructed at Abomosu in the Eastern Region.
Mr Kobina Adomadzi Londgon, a resource person and Chief Executive Officer of Techfarm Hub, cautioned students to avoid negative attitudes when using ICT for study purposes.
Students from the Robotic Club at Mamfe Methodist Girls SHS displayed robot tank bots, robot arms, ultra bots, and gyro boys, while Master Emmanuel Kyei, a form two student of Koforidua Technical Institute, demonstrated a hydrophone that can make calls from two kilometres.
GNA