The Minister for Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD), Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (MP) has paid a working visit to the Girls-In-ICT training centres in the Eastern Region to interact with the girls and encourage them to build their abilities in digital skills and STEM education as well as choose careers in the ICT Industry.
The centres visited last Friday included Aburi Girls Senior High School (SHS), Mampong Presbyterian Senior High School (SHS), Koforidua Regional Library, Koforidua Ghana Secondary, e-Transform Project, Aburi Presbyterian Secondary Technical and Koforidua SDA SHS.
Excited over the impact of the training so far, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful, said, Ghana has to demystify Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Digital Technology as well as allow women and girls know that their jobs are not only in the Arts.
“We have to demystify and introduce more girls to ICT/Digital Technology. We have to let women know that their jobs aren’t only in the Arts, but even with the Arts, they need some form of digital skills to be able to succeed,” she stated.
According to her, the world is evolving and the country could only develop when critical care is given to the young girls and platforms created for them to acquire digital skills.
“We seem to behave as if all things technical, mechanical, digital, engineering, science, mathematics, are a male thing so women cannot excel in it,” Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful bemoaned.
She decried that such thoughts have contributed to the huge gap between men and women in ICT in Ghana.
“Thankfully, it is changing. About 10 or 11 years ago, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) decided that to make a difference and expose more girls to the wonders of ICT, we have to be deliberate and focused,” she explained.
The JHS students wowed the sector Minister after they took terms to walk her through some codes, scribes, games among others they had developed.
The Minister who could not hide her joy also told Journalists that plans are underway to ensure that JHS and SHS have ICT centres where the students can access and acquire knowledge.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West disclosed that measures are being put in place to ensure that every JHS and SHS student has his or her own laptop.
The students gave assurance that they will make good use of what they had learned and also educate their colleagues.
