Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister for Communications and Digitalisation

The Ministry of Communication and Digitization has presented 100 brand new HP laptop computers to the first 100 best girls in this year’s “Girls in ICT training” held in the Western North Region.

In all 1000 basic school girls participated in the Programme with 900 of them selected from the nine Districts in the Western North Region, while another 100 were selected from Prestea Huni-Valley in the Western Region.

The presentation and training, according to the sector Ministers Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, formed part of government’s efforts to bridge the digital and ICT gap and empower young girls in the digital revolution world.

The Minister was of the view that technology played a vital role in all spheres of life and that 7,064 girls were trained already in basic computer skills, fundamentals of programming, HTML and coding.

She said the Ministry would train more girls in the coming years and with the support of Huawei, the programme was scaled up to include girls in tertiary institutions.

Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (3rd Left) with some of the students and other dignitaries

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful announced that 25 schools in Western North would get computer Laboratories instead of the initial 15 and called on corporate institutions to partner the Ministry of Communication and Digitization to give young girls digital skills for the job market.

MTN Ghana, the official sponsor of the Girls in ICT project in a message by Ms Louisa Ama Sosu, Senior Manager Network Performance, on behalf of chief Corporate Services, congratulated all the 1000 participants and expressed confidence that they would take the lessons learnt seriously and practise the skills they had acquired.

She encouraged them to put technology at the heart of their development plans, since that would give them a competitive advantage over their peers and career mobility to earn more.

Ms Asantewaa Fuakye from Kofikrom D/A Junior High School was adjudged the overall best.

Savannah Region will host the next edition of Girls in ICT Training.