A total of a 100 girls emerged best performing students in the examination of the 1000 Girls-In-ICT training programme held in Tamale, capital of the Northern Region.
For their prizes, each of them received a laptop, plaque, certificate and cash.
Three of these girls were adjudged winners, including 14-year-old Christiana Awunya from the Tamale Metropolis who was adjudged the overall winner, receiving an award of GH¢ 3000, a laptop and a plaque.
Dan Amanda, 13 years old, from the Kpandai District took home GH¢ 2,500, and a laptop for the second position, while 14-year-old Husinatu Mohammed got GH¢ 2,000 and a laptop for placing third.
The Girls-In-ICT programme started in the region on July 3, 2023, where a total of 1000 girls were drawn from basic schools in the districts across the region.
Awards were also given to best education officers and best teachers from the districts in the region.
The event was on the theme, “Digital for life” and was organised by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD) with support from MTN, Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and GIFEC.
The Minister of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD), Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, on the final day of the programme, said the initiative was part of the government’s effort to assist the young girls acquire knowledge in ICT.
She said the training of the girls in ICT was to equip them to participate in the digital economy across globe, adding “you need to imbibe the habit of practising every day to deepen your knowledge the more in ICT.”
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the government was building a digital Ghana, hence the need for every child to embrace the learning of ICT, stressing that ICT had the potential to transform the young girls in their communities and the country at large.
The minister stated that, in 2017 they took the initiative to a next level, and Ghana was the first country to implement that initiative.
She said digital technology was indispensable and a key pillar in the digital economy, and called on parents to encourage young girls to be serious in the learning of ICT in their various academic fields.
The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Alhassan Shani Shaibu, thanked the minister for coming to the aid of the 1000 girls by equipping them with knowledge in ICT.
He appealed to the minster to expand the infrastructure of the programme to reach other students who could not get the opportunity to participate.
FROM YAHAYA NUHU NADAA, TAMALE
