Accra, Dec. 8, GNA - Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL), an Indian Information Technology organisation, in collaboration with INGA Group (Ghana), a project investment company, is set to extend its services to the underprivileged in Ghana.

Addressing newsmen on the partnership in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Vikek Sawant, Managing Director of MKCL, said the joint venture would focus on providing low cost, world class IT education and vocational services to students and the public.

"This would be done with the use of critical information technology skills necessary for survival and success in future", he said. Mr Sawant noted that the joint venture in collaboration with the Government would offer a successful implementation of e-governance software and programmes by the use of a common IT portal which could be accessed by all without going through the normal bureaucracy. "In addition to assisting government to reduce the time it spends on software tenders, the company's software would also offer government the ability to earn new, quicker and more efficient revenues", he said. Mr Sawant said MKCL was the successful resultant of an Indian public-private-community initiative designed to propagate mass IT literacy within the State of Maharashtra in India.

He said in India, more than 5.4 million people had been made IT literate through MKCL provided services over an eight-year period, and similar programme was being rolled in Saudi Arabia. Mr Sawant said the partnership with INGA Group would seek to help Ghana in her quest to bridge its local digital divide. 8 Dec. 10