12-year-old Juliet Delali, a pupil from the Sankore D/A JHS emerged the winner at the just ended Girls in ICT event in the Ahafo region.

She received a cash price of 3,000.00gh, a plaque and the establishment of an ultra-modern ICT laboratory centre in her school.

Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful after presenting her with the prize urged her to take up an interest in the ICT space and practice whatever she has learnt throughout the programme.

The Minister also defended the decision to do the programme for only girls and called for more support to expand it to other levels of education.

According to her, Positive feedback from the previous regions have energized the ministry to expand the programme to other parts of the country although the initial plan was for a region per year.

“The Covid-19 showed us how important ICT is in the activities of life since many of our educational and religious activities were delivered through digital channels when the world was under lockdown”

On his part, a representative from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Eric Mensah Bonsu said the Youth empowerment concept through the initiative is enormous and must be supported by all. He urged the girls to take the expert advice from the mentors to shape up their careers especially in the field of ICT.

Administrator for the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC), Prince Sefah Fosu hinted an upcoming initiative by the agency to provide 120 communities with free WIFI for the next four years.

He pledged his agency’s continuous support for the Girls in ICT initiative.