Ms Juliet Delila, 12, and a form-one student of the Sankore District Assembly ‘A’ Junior High School in the Asunafo South District has been crowned winner of the Girls-in-ICT initiative in the Ahafo Region.
The Girls-in-ICT initiative is one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Communication and Digitalisation (MoCD) and is in line with the International Girls-in-ICT Day, an initiative introduced in 2012 and backed by all International Communications Unions (ITU) Member States.
It aims at encouraging and empowering girls and young women to consider studies and careers in ICT in the growing fields of ICTs, enabling both girls and technology companies to reap the benefits of greater female participation in the ICT sector.
For her prize, Ms. Delila, who had the opportunity to join 1,000 Basic School girls in the region to undergo one-week extensive ICT training, took home GhC3,000 cash, a laptop computer and a plaque.
Ms. Margaret Anane, also 12, and Class Six pupil of the Hwidiem Roman Catholic Primary School in Asutifi South District placed second and received a laptop computer, GhC2,500 and a plaque.
Nancy Ezel Owusuaa, 14, a form-one pupil of the Duayaw-Nkwanta Presbyterian ‘B’ JHS in Tano North Municipality was third and got a laptop computer, GhC2,000 and a plaque.
Hundred other deserving girls who participated in the training that introduced the beneficiaries to basic computing skills including coding, programming, gaming and scratch also received a laptop each and a certificate.
Speaking at ceremony held at Acherensua in the Asutifi South District of the region to climax the training, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister of Communication and Digitalisation congratulated the girls, and asked them to use the laptops for academic purposes.
She stressed her Ministry’s determination to ensure more girls, particularly those in rural communities easily access ICT education, not only to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, but also give them the necessary exposure.
“We need to provide reliable internet connectivity to enable these girls to easily connect to the digital platforms”, she said, indicating that the MoCD was building 28 cell sites in the region under its Rural Telephony Project.
In addition, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful said the Ministry was putting up a Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Centre at Akrodie in the region, and entreated teachers to guide the girls to use the laptops purposefully.
Nana Kofi Asare, the Acting Chief Corporate Officer, MTN Ghana, one of the major sponsors of the Girls-in-ICT initiative explained the company had invested GHC10 million into the programme for the period of three years to well position the MoCD to pursue the nation’s digitalisation agenda.
“In April 2022, the ITU reported that over 600,000 girls and young women have taken part in more than 12,000 celebrations of Girls in ICT Day in 195 countries worldwide. By this count, almost one per cent of girls benefitting from Girls-in-ICT initiatives across the entire world are in Ghana.
“This is an incredible achievement for a relatively small country like Ghana and it shows, where we want to be on the global stage in the on-going digital revolution”, Nana Asare stated, and reiterated MTN’s commitment to collaborate with stakeholders to support and sustain the initiative.
GNA