According to her, the rapid pace of global development necessitates staying abreast of ICT advancements to address the challenges facing both the country and the world at large.

“You need to have a curious mind, have the desire to want to learn and be hungry for knowledge. So, for you being given this opportunity, especially at this young age, there’s nothing you cannot achieve if you apply your mind to it.”

“I’ll be very excited if 10 years from now, some of you become software engineers, developing programmes to solve some of the many problems in the world,” she said.

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful made these remarks during the 2024 Girls-In-ICT Coding Caravan, which took place at the Dansoman ‘A’ Cluster of Schools in Accra.

Science and technology have long been seen as male-dominated fields, with females historically sidelined in the quest for education, especially in these areas.

Efforts to correct this imbalance include the inception of Girls in ICT Day by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of the United Nations, aimed at inspiring and encouraging girls to pursue careers in the ICT space.

In the spirit of collaboration, the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, in partnership with the Institute of ICT Professionals, Ghana (IIPGH), is spearheading the 2024 Girls-In-ICT Coding Caravan.

This initiative focuses on teaching children in underserved areas the basics of ICT and how to use digital tools to tackle social problems.

Speaking at the event, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Dr. Ing. Kenneth Ashigbey, highlighted some areas of learning that this year’s caravan would focus on.

“So basically, they’re being taught the principles of building an intelligent traffic light and then they’ll all go through learning scratch, and they’ll use that to build some animations and then be taught 3D printing.”

He also announced the Chamber’s goal to move the country’s ICT teaching and examination processes from a theoretically based system to a practical one, “where young people would be able to solve real-time problems in society.”

Mr Kafui Amanfo, Director of Operations, IIPGH, stressed the importance of digital literacy for young people.

He described the Coding Caravan as “an inclusive activity” which would be extended to hearing-impaired pupils at Mampong in the Eastern Region.

“Leaving the underserved communities behind will not make the digital communication agenda conclusive. We need to bring everybody on board for this development programme,” he stated.

IIPGH

The Institute of ICT Professionals, Ghana (IIPGH) is a professional association made up of professionals in various domains of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) practice.

The Institute is a connector of ICT professionals from government MDAs, educational institutions, corporate organizations, start-ups, investors, and civil society organizations to create a vibrant ICT ecosystem.