Girls-In-ICT: Communications Ministry, partners train 100 teachers in basic ICT skills in Northern Region

The Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD) has begun a five-day training of trainees (ToT) of the Girls-In-ICT project for some 100 teachers selected from the Northern Region.

The training began on Monday 3 July, 2023, and is expected to end on 7 July 2023,

It is aimed at equipping the teachers with digital skills to enable them also train 1000 selected girls from 16 districts across the Northern Region.

The programme is being organised by the ministry and its implementing agencies such as the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT ( KACE), Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), as well as other partners including GIZ, ATC and MTN.

Speaking at the opening ceremony in Tamale, the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful in a speech read on her behalf by the director of human resources at the ministry, Austin Hesse said recent statistics indicate that a good number of Ghanaians, particularly the adolescent girls and young women have very limited digital skills and are thus disadvantaged in today’s digital economy, adding that the demonstration of that fact can be seen in the number of ICT/STEM female teachers selected from the various communities to represent the region.

She stated also that experts in the field are predicting that the world is gravitating towards an intelligent world, and Ghana cannot afford to be left behind.

The minister further indicated that the flagship initiative was also geared towards addressing the challenge faced by the girl child because statistics available have shown that the ICT sector has been heavily dominated by males for decades now.

“It is for this reason that the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation being myself a woman, has highly prioritised the Girl-In-ICT initiative above other commitments,” she said.

The minister noted that more than 9,000 girls have so far been trained.

“I am happy to inform you that just two months ago, i.e. 9 May 2023 the Girls-In-ICT initiative was climaxed in the Savannah Region after training about 1,000 girls and 100 teachers and the overarching goal is to encourage our girls and by extension, our youth to take up careers in this lucrative ICT industry as well as become torchbearers in this life transformation agenda.

She said that the success of the initiative was based on the collaboration between the Ministry and the Regional Coordinating Council.

As the Girls-In-ICT training always left a big impact in every region it goes, she is more than confident it will leave a mark in the Northern Region as well.

Knowing the critical role that teachers play in this space, the Girls-In-ICT Initiative started with the training of teachers in areas such as Fundamentals in ICT, Scratch Programming (Coding), Cyber Security, Gaming, Website Development and Project Presentation among others, and it is expected that the Teachers will continue the work of assisting and encouraging the girls to pursue ICT careers in later life.

The Northern Regional Minister Alhaji Shani Alhassan in his welcome address expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the ministry and its partners for bringing the Girls-In-ICT initiative to his region since it would help bridge the gender digital divide.

He entreated and encouraged all the participating teachers and ICT instructors to be trained to put in maximum effort and pay attention to all details, and to enable them to get insight into the basics of the training so as to enable them to impact the knowledge onto the girls who shall be subsequently trained by them.

The initiative according to him, will also offer all the trainers the opportunity to contribute their quotas to the overall objective of introducing the basics of ICT to the rural girl-child to enhance their capacities as the adage says “if you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a nation,” Alhaji Shaibu said.

He urged the teachers to take show seriousness and impact their knowledge in order to help them transfer the skills learned to the girls, which he said would make the region proud when it comes to using digital services and among others.

The director of administration and human resources at the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC), the main implementing partner of the project, Alhaji Faisal Issahaku Gbanjili urged trainers to take good care of the computers they will be using for the training, to keep them in shape for other regions to also benefit from the opportunity.

He said GIFEC over the years have been providing logistical and technical support to the ministry to make sure the Girls-In-ICT project becomes a success.

Reporting by Tahiru Abdul-Washiru in the Northern Region

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