Accra, Aug. 27, GNA - Dr Osei K. Darkwa, President of the Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC), on Thursday urged policy makers to prioritise the use of technology to address the needs and challenges of the nation.

He said any nation which failed to maximize the power of technology would be left behind in the global developmental agenda. Dr Darkwa was speaking at the closing of Tech Camp 2009 organized by GTUC for both senior and junior secondary students in Accra. The six-week course was to expose participants to a wide range of computing skills and information technology to give them hands-on experience with emerging technology and channel their energies to the solution of puzzling information technology challenges. Dr Darkwa also announced that GTUC had partnered Omatek Ghana Limited, a local computer manufacturing company, to set up a Technology Centre at the GTUC campus where students would be given practical knowledge into the assembling and manufacturing of computers. He said the technology course would start in January, 2010 and urged parents to enrol their children in these specialized lessons. Dr Darkwa also stated that GTUC intended to decentralize the Tech Camp programme to the other regions and as such they were collaborating with the National Youth Council (NYC) to use their training centres for the camping.

He said the next level of the Tech Camp meeting would focus on the application of the technologies acquired by the participants to the benefit of their communities.

Mr George Adorshie, University and International Relations Officer, said the Tech Camp was carefully tailored to equip the students with the 'tools' to face the challenges of today's knowledge based global system.

He said the camp also afforded the participants the opportunity to tour some institutions where the computing skills and technology they acquired were being applied. Mr Adorshie encouraged the participants continuously practise the skills that they had learnt and share their experiences with friends who could not take part in the camp.