By Laudia Sawer
Afienya, Dec. 12, GNA – Dr. Redeemer Amegbo-Dela, the founder and Director of I Care Services, Foundation, and College, has called on education stakeholders to invest in the training of rural youth in Information Communication and Technology (ICT).
Dr. Amegbo-Dela observed that the only way to bridge the educational gap between rural and urban communities was for government, institutions, and individuals to commit to providing the needed ICT training for the youth.
He made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the graduation of 120 students who received free ICT training from the I Care College.
He said it was worrying that some school children, mostly in rural areas, had never seen a computer or its accessories before, even though ICT was part of the curriculum of schools in Ghana.
He indicated that with this, those in urban areas who have access to such resources stand a better chance of passing their examinations, having a higher education, and having job opportunities.
He said technology was transforming the world, hence the need to adequately prepare the Ghanaian youth for the world market, as without ICT training it would be very difficult to get a good job or create a successful job.
Dr. Amegbo-Dela said it was for this reason that his outfit, with the support of Success4All in the UK, was training the youth on ICT for free, indicating that their aim was to train 80 volunteers in ICT in 2024 who would be equipped with resources and stipends to educate the students in the various communities.
He explained that to ensure that the students benefiting from the ICT education, did not miss their normal school education, classes were held after school hours.
He, however, said even though the tuition and training equipment were free, some of the students dropped out due to the inability of their parents to afford the GHs10 data contribution for the training period.
He appealed to the telecommunication organisations and other stakeholders to support I Care to be able to provide the free training to the students without the need for a data fee, as they were forced to collect those contributions due to the high cost of data in the country.
Touching on the training of non-governmental organisations, he said they aim to train caregivers to cater for the elderly and people with disabilities in the communities, who lacked the needed care.
GNA