By Bertha Badu-Agyei
Koforidua, Nov. 01, GNA – A 12-year-old JHS two student, Edna Edem Sowu, from the Trinity Presbyterian Model School in Koforidua, has emerged as the winner of the girls in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) competition in the Eastern Region.
Gifty Akpo from Reverend Fr Weggers R/C JHS in Nsawam-Adoagyiri municipality and Deborah Mateko Ofoe from Asesewa Methodist JHS in Upper-Manya Krobo District were second and third, respectively.
For their prizes, they received cash of GHC5,000, GHC3000, and GHC2000, respectively, in addition to a laptop and accessories each and the provision of an ICT laboratory for their respective schools by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation.
About 1,000 selected girls from the 33 administrative districts in the Eastern Region took part in the competition as part of the Girls in ICT celebration.
The first 100 who excelled in the competition were all given laptops, as were the district girl child education coordinators in the region.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the celebration, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister for communications and digitalization, said she was proud of the progress made so far by the girls in the ICT initiative and thanked those who had partnered the ministry.
She said the girls in the ICT programme had undoubtedly demystified the notion that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education were boys’ things and that “the sciences are not for boys only, and so are the arts not solely for girls.”
She announced that to ensure the sustainability of the programme and continue to generate interest among girls in the sciences, the ministry was considering setting up a trust fund for the Girls in ICT programme.
Rev. Dr Joyce Aryee, founder and director of the Salt and Light Ministries, commended the ministry for championing the cause of girls to change gender narratives around STEM education.
She encouraged the girls not to toy with the opportunity granted them because it had the potential to shape their future endeavours not only for themselves but for the larger society.
She was particularly happy about the idea of setting up a trust fund to sustain the programme and emphasised that such an initiative needed a strategy to ensure its sustainability for the benefit of more girls to bridge the gender gap.
Madam Adwoa Wiafe, Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer of MTN said her outfit was impressed with how the initiative had engaged and roused the interest of young girls in ICT and STEM education by extension.
She said the theme for the celebration, “Digital Skills for Life,” resonated deeply in the rapidly evolving world and captured the essence of what we, as a communication organisation, aimed to achieve.
She said that by exposing as many young girls as possible to ICT “it offers limitless opportunities for creativity, innovation, and career growth, which are indeed required to provide the solutions for Africa’s progress.”
GNA