By Albert Futukpor
Tamale, Aug. 3, GNA – The Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation has given a laptop each to the 100 top performers in the Girls-in-ICT Programme held in the Northern Region.
Christiana Wehle Awiah (14 years from Tamale), Amanda Daal (13 years from Kpandai District) and Husinatu Mohammed (14 years from Tamale), who took the first, second and third positions in that order, also received a plaque each and cash prizes of Ghc3,000, Ghc2,500 and GHc2,000 respectively.
An ICT laboratory will also be established in the respective schools of the top three winners.
Sixteen Girl-child Education Officers from all the 16 districts in the region, Best Teachers of the Programme (one each from the 16 districts in the region) were also given laptops each while the Communications Minister’s Special Award was presented to three individuals who also took home laptop each.
The Girls-In-ICT Programme, which was introduced in 2012 by the International Telecommunications Union to create global environment to empower and encourage girls and young women to consider studies and careers in the growing field of ICT, is being implemented by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation with support from MTN Ghana, German Development Cooperation, Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, GIFEC, and American Towers (ATC).
The Programme began in the region from July 3, with a week-long training of 100 teachers on basic ICT skills, who in turn, from July 17, to July 29, also trained 1,000 girls from all the 16 districts in the region on basic ICT skills, exposing them to coding, cyber security and website development.
As part of the training, examinations were held for all girl participants to select 100 top performers for the awards during the climax of the programme, which was held in Tamale on Tuesday on the theme: “Digital Skills for Life”.
Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, who handed over the awards packages to the winners, congratulated the girls and said it was an impactful initiative with the potential to transform the lives of the girls and the people in the country.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful emphasised that “we want to create the right environment for the training of girls in ICT to participate in the digital economy” adding that since 2012 when the Girls-in-ICT Programme began, 11,981 girls and 1,200 teachers across the country had benefited from it.
She encouraged the girls to continue to practise the lessons to perfect their skills and become the torchbearers in ICT in their communities.
Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister, said the event marked the beginning of empowering and inspiring the girl-child to venture into the ICT space for jobs and other relevant opportunities.
Professor Seidu Al-Hassan, Vice-chancellor of University for Development Studies, lauded the Girls-in-ICT Programme and said it was preparing the girls for the future, which was important for the development of the country.
Miss Awiah, the overall winner of the examinations, speaking after receiving her award during the climax, described her feat as a life-changing experience. “Before last week, my desire was to be a lecturer in human languages but with this exposure, I intend to explore the possibility of lecturing in computer languages.”
She said, “Although I knew how to play around the computer, this is my first time of learning how to code. How wonderful I felt knowing I can instruct the computer to create games, animations, stories and websites. The training has given us the ability to think critically in solving problems step by step.”
Meanwhile, all the 100 girls are expected to benefit from an open day experience where they would be sent to Accra for a week to tour the offices of Mobile Network Operators, Companies in the ICT industry, and selected Agencies of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation to interact, especially with women in the industry.
GNA