The Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation has expressed concern over the low participation of girls in ICT and the persistent perception that females are not capable of pursuing ICT-related programmes.
The Ministry has emphasised that for Ghana to achieve significant growth, development, and competitiveness in the global digital space, it is essential to train more girls in ICT and dispel the stereotype that the field is exclusively for boys.
On Friday, November 15, 2024, the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, visited training centres under the Girls in ICT initiative in the Ashanti Region. Her visit was aimed at engaging with students, assessing their progress, and encouraging them to sustain their interest in information and Communication Technology (ICT).
During an interview, the Minister emphasised the importance of the initiative in empowering girls and breaking stereotypes that ICT is a male-dominated field. She stressed that equipping more girls with ICT skills is essential for Ghana’s growth and competitiveness in the digital economy.
“We want to demystify ICT education for girls. Traditionally, we’ve raised our children to think that anything technology, science, or mathematics is almost exclusively reserved for boys and that girls don’t do well in those subjects, so we steer them towards the soft courses; the Arts subject and we leave the boys to do science. The whole world is going digital and for our young girls to be able to compete on the national and the global stage, they have to be given the right skills.
“We expanded the scope of the Girls In ICT programme from a one-day event to a two-week event. We train a hundred teachers in every region to go back to their schools and teach. We train a thousand girls in each region, drawn from every district in the region so that at the end of the competition, the best 100 will get their laptops and the best 10 get ICT laboratories for their schools ”
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful revealed that despite the program’s potential, efforts to secure a dedicated budgetary allocation for the initiative have not been successful. However, the Ministry is actively seeking alternative funding sources to ensure its continuity and expansion.
“We have tried but haven’t succeeded, so we look for resources from the private sector, NGOs, and Development Partners to sustain it. And there is a lot of keen interest in narrowing the gender digital divide, so we are confident that we will get the funding we need to sustain it for the long term.”
Some of the girls shared their learning experiences so far;
“This programme has impacted me positively. I wasn’t good at typing but I have improved. I want to say a big thank you to the Minister of Communication and Digitalisation, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful for creating this opportunity for girls. Girls in ICT, Leadership!”, stated Pamela Obeng Andoh, Opoku Ware M/A JHS
“I am going to use the ‘Scratch’ to create games and stories for others to enjoy. I’m also going to use the ‘Mobirise’ to create websites for my school, work, the institution I get into and other services”, said Rosemond Nyarko Frimpong from St. Anthony R/C JHS.
This year, a total of 1,000 girls from all 47 constituencies in the Ashanti Region have been trained under the initiative, equipping them with critical digital skills to thrive in the evolving technological landscape.
The Minister on Saturday, 16th November 2024 also commissioned three network stations for the Awaham-Brofoyedu, Anumso and Bouya communities in the Sekyere East district of the Ashanti Region.
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