The Minister for Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has encouraged girls in basic schools to take advantage of the opportunities that the Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) world offers people globally.
She argued that young girls in Ghana could create jobs for themselves in the ICT, provided they remained focused in their studies.
“They are huge opportunities and even those who are already employed are upgrading themselves.There are opportunities Africa can take advantage of and feed the rest of the world with the skills because we have a youthful population under 45 years.Very soon, the world will rely on Africa for employment and with the necessary skills, we can do it,” Mrs Owusu-Ekuful added.
She said this on Monday in Takoradi at the opening of a mentorship workshop as part of the Second National Girls in ICT Day on the theme ‘Expand horizons, change attitudes.’
It was organised by the Ministry of Communications with support from International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), the National Communication Authority (NCA) and the Western Regional Coordinating Council (RCCC).
She said that there were vacancies to be filled in the ICT sector, adding that women could change the statistics with ICT.
The Minister said the sad aspect of the Ghanaian narrative was that girls shied away from ICT, mathematics and hard core engineering courses because they thought they could not do it and stressed “you can do it if you put your mind to it, it is just about the desire.”
She also noted that although women constituted about 51 per cent of Ghana’s population, men today formed about 80 per cent in ICT worldwide with only 20 per cent of women in the sector.
She said “The theme is not just by accident. We need to expand the horizon and change our attitudes and say that now, we are going to do it and, we can do it because there are no barriers to any human endeavor.”
The Minister disclosed that about 4,000 girls had benefitted from the programme which had travelled to Greater Accra, Ashanti, Bono, Ahafo and Western regions.
She said Daniella Afriyie Asare from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) was a finalist in the Miss Geek Contest held in Rwanda, adding that the Miss Geek Contest would be held in Ghana this year.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the ministry together with the Ministry of Education would provide ICT laboratories for schools in Ghana.
The Metropolitan Education Director of Sekondi-Takoradi, Rev. Mrs Elizabeth Akuoko, expressed the hope that the programme would promote the teaching and learning of ICT and also create more and varied opportunities for girls in the technologically changing world.
Mrs Akuoko advised the participants to take their studies seriously and excel in their studies.
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, TAKORADI
