The Minister of Communication, Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has encouraged girls to leave no stone unturned in studying Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

According to her, the field is no longer for boys and men only hence it’s time women and girls take it seriously in order to balance the gender inclusion in the digital world.

“Technology is not just for boys and men, you (girls) too can do it if you put your mind to it. It isn’t rocket science” adding that “we must expand the horizons and change our attitudes to ensure that this digital gender divide is bridge as fast as possible” .

Ms Ursula Owusu-Ekuful who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ablekuma West constituency in the Grater Accra region further added that, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) agenda, which seeks to making Ghana and Africa as a whole a better place for all cannot be achieved if girls and women are not involved.

“We can’t achieve the sustainable development goals 2030 if girls and women are left behind in the development agenda,again we cannot eradicate poverty if issues of inclusion, female inclusion are not addressed” she said.

The Minister who was speaking at a ceremony held to climax the 10th edition of National Girls in I.C.T Day celebration in the Nkwanta South Municipality of Oti region on Monday, 14 September 2020, emphasised on the need for girls to take the digital industry for serious, this to enable them to make good decisions in their careers and jobs.

“ We believe that this mentorship event will wipe up your interest to peruse courses in the ICT field and ultimately decide to choose careers in this industry, today everyone need digital technology for whatever work they are doing and you will also have a job if you have the right skills for the new world of work which is rapidly unfolding before us if you’ve the digital skills” she said.

National Girls in I.C.T is an annual training and mentorship programme to empower girls in the world of technology, started in 2010 under the auspices of the Ministry of Communication with supports from its agencies and stakeholders, including MTN Ghana, Vodafone Ghana, AirtelTigo and the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC).

This year’s section saw some 584 girls drawn from various basic schools in the 8 districts within Oti region who had a two week intensive training in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Coding, Communication Integration (CI) and Basic Computer Literacy.

Out of the 584 trained girls, 60 have exceeded and each were awarded certificate of participation and Hewlett-Packard laptop while the first 10 received MTN TurboNets with a year subscription and the first three, received cheques and plaques.

Teachers from the various schools including some 10 girl-child coordinators were also awarded with laptops.