Ecobank Ghana and its partners as part of their Transforming Africa through Education initiative is to help build the digital skills of the youth and prepare them for the job market.
Under the three-year programme, Ecobank Ghana and its partners, namely, eProcess International, EDC and Pan African Savings and Loans, would also provide ICT facilities, such as computers, for schools and help train the youth with Information Communication Technology (ICT) skills.
Consequently, Ecobank Ghana PLC and its partners have offered to refurbish the computer laboratory of the South Labone Girls’ Technical Institute (SLATECH) and stocked it with 21 computers.
In addition, the bank and its partners would renovate three classrooms of the Institute and stock it with chairs and desks and provide long tables for the dressmaking department of SLATECH.
The Institute caters for abandoned, stranded, missing and vulnerable children, and served as remand and correctional centre for children who had committed crime.
Speaking at the Ecobank Day programme with the students of SLATECH in Accra on Saturday, the Acting Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana PLC, Madam Joana Mensah, said the move was to build a conducive environment for the students to study.
As part of the programme on the theme “Excel with Digital Skills”, some staff members and senior officials of the bank interacted with the students and took a tour of the Institute.
Madam Mensah explained that Ecobank, as part of its Corporate Social Investment (CSI), took education, especially ICT education, seriously.
The Acting Managing Director said ICT education had become crucial in the fast-changing technological world.
“If you are not technologically oriented in the current age, you will be left out,” she stated.
Madam Joanah said in addition to the computers, Ecobank Ghana PLC would provide a projector to the Institute.
The Group Executive Operations and Technology of Ecobank, Dr Tomisin Fashina, said the Ecobank Day was started ten years ago.
He said the programme was one of the flagship CSI annual event of the bank and was done in 32 countries in Africa in which the bank operated.
Dr Fashina, who is the Managing Director of eProcess International, said the programme supported initiatives in the areas of education of water management and maternal mortality.
He said Ecobank was proud to initiate the three-year programme to transform Africa through education, particularly digital education.
“We want Ghana where the youth are prepared for emerging Jobs,” he said.
The Director of Social Welfare, Reverend Dr Comfort Asare, in her remarks, commended Ecobank for the support, saying, “The intervention has been timely.”
She said the support offered by Ecobank Ghana PLC would go a long way to help keep the institution running.
Rev. Dr Asare said the refurbishment of ICT laboratory and the provision of computers would help the students become ICT literates.
The Principal and Manageress of SLATECH, Gifty Terkpor, expressed gratitude to Ecobank Ghana PLC for the support.
She appealed to other corporate organisations to emulate the example of Ecobank Ghana PLC and come to support the Institute.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
