Global Leading ICT Company, Huawei has today signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education in Ghana aimed at offering skilled ICT Training to Ghanaians while enhancing basic education through the application of technologies for uninterrupted learning.

The MOU which was signed at a short ceremony at the Ministry of Education, forms part of the ICT giant’s commitment to the Government of Ghana through the President, to train up to 10,000 Ghanaians by 2024 through the Huawei ICT Training (HIT) program, while complementing Huawei’s continuous effort to grow with Ghana by building the capacity of the citizenry through development of the country’s ICT Talent pool and formal education in general.

Speaking at the event, the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum hinted that education is of paramount importance to the government of Ghana and the MOU is a crucial first step in seeing Ghanaians compete at all levels in leading global organizations.

He said; “the MOU is just the floor, the ceiling is higher and if we facilitate the process where brightest minds can work for international companies and even [remotely] from Ghana, that will be a great addition in terms of this MOU.”

Adding to the significance of the Huawei Professional Certifications, the Minister urged Ghanaians, especially the youth who are interested in joining the tech industry to take advantage of it now to properly equip themselves for the industry.

He however called on Huawei to introduce more entry level courses and make them available for SHS students to enable them graduate with some level of ICT skills which can earn them employment.

Dr. Adutwum also added that the plans are underway for the Ministry of Education to roll out a number of policies aimed at operationalizing specialized STEM schools while incorporating professional ICT courses to mainstream academics to ensure that most Ghanaian students graduate with professional certifications like the Huawei ICT Academy Professional Certifications among others to enhance their employability while making Ghana a hub for ICT human resource in the Sub Region.

The Managing Director for Huawei Ghana, Mr. Tommy Zhou in his remarks applauded Ghanaian students as very hardworking and exhibiting a plethora of potentials. “Every year we hold ICT competitions across various countries in the world and our students from Ghana were one of the excellent students from the African region [in 2019 and 2020] which is a big achievement and we believe we can do better with more effort.

He finally praised the Ministry for their commitment towards ensuring Ghanaians get access to quality education and commended the Ministry for signing the MOU with Huawei. “We [Huawei Ghana] are very pleased to be given this opportunity by the Ministry of Education to cooperate on such a project. We will take this opportunity and put in more efforts to train more ICT talents in Ghana for the development of the country.” He said.

Through the MOU with the Ministry of Education, Huawei hopes to pilot the Technology-enabled Open School System (TOSS) which is being done in partnership with UNESCO to connect school and home-based learning in basic schools to benefit over 1000 students.

The company will also train 100 instructors and 2000 students in professional certification courses and certify over 1000 students each year and finally provide skilled ICT training to civil servants and industry professionals which will see the MOU cumulatively benefit over 10,000 Ghanaians in the next three years.