By Eunice Hilda A. Mensah
Dodowa (GAR), June 19, GNA – Dr Kenneth Ashigbey, the Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, has cautioned pupils against the wrong use of Information Communication Technology.
He noted that children sometimes used ICT to join bad companies and engaged in practices such as drug abuse, fraud, and immoral practices, which were dangerous and had serious repercussion on them.
Dr Ashigbey gave the caution when the Chamber in partnership with the Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana organised another series of its initiative dubbed “The Coding Caravan” at Dodowa for ten basic schools in the Shai-Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region.
The participating schools were the Doryumu D/A Basic A school, Asebi D/A Basic School, St Peters R/C Basic School, Ayikuma R/C Basic School, Manya Jorpanya D/A Basic School, Doryumu Methodist Basic School, Asutuare Junction D/A Basic School and Ayikuma Methodist Basic School.
The pupils were enlightened on Scratch (A free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations), 3d design and printing and Internet of Things.
Dr Ashigbey said the training was an extension of its Coding Caravan Project already held in Kyeame, Nsawam, Akyem Oda, Agona Swedru, and Ofoase among other communities across the country.
The project, which targeted communities where ICT was underpinning development, had trained about a thousand pupils and 250 teachers.
To ensure sustainability, he explained that it had become necessary to train the teachers as well to make them well equipped to take the mantra once the project execution was officially taken to another school.
The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications CEO said before the project run throughout the country, the Ghana Education Service would move from the theory-based way of teaching to practical ways to make the children more capable of solving societal problems.
“The teachers show how well it is useful for the children with moving from the old ways of teaching without gadgets and having the children dozing off to teaching them with computers and projectors among others.
“We will keep tracking progress and hope to get somewhere where we will see the children creating things themselves,” he noted.
Dr Ashigbey called on all well-meaning citizens to support the project in varied ways, including transportation and internet provision among others as they intended to roll it from Accra to Paga.
Ms Dorothy Klutse, Digital Skills Training Supervisor, Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana, who took the pupils through “thinkatoys” and 3D printing in Internet of Things, illustrated how better the traffic light would be if it was connected to the internet.
She said the world was swiftly moving into a technological and artificial intelligence space and children who were the future of the world had to be trained to be able to fit in for the progress of humanity.
Nana Yaa Amoah Bediako, the Apagyahemaa of Asamankese, addressing the pupils, asked them to take advantage of ICT to enhance their lots.
“Instead of misusing ICT when you gain insights, rather use it well when you get access to a computer or a phone. When you have data, you have access to the global world as an opportunity to learn good new things.
“Don’t put your energies on Facebook, tiktok, or Instagram. You can learn a new word, you can even learn how to do DJing. I used the internet to learn how to do fula and granular..,” she said.
GNA