Government’s efforts to make ICT accessible to all Ghanaians under the ‘ICT for all’ policy has been boosted with the formal opening of a state-of-the-art Information Communication Technology facility, a Subah initiative, at Ejisu in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality of the Ashanti Region.

The facility, which is the first of its kind in the country, was undertaken by SubahInfo Solutions Ghana Limited under its maiden Subah Information Technology and Enterprises Centre (SINTENPREC) Project -- which among other things is aimed at facilitating and supporting ICT education and training in the country. The SINTENPREC Project also aims at offering expert and professional training for ICT trainers and students, as well as providing e-learning centres for use by students nationwide.

BirendraSasmal, Managing Director SubahInfo Solutions Ghana Limited, explained that students and other applicants who will be making use of the Facility will be able to assemble laptops, repair mobile phones, and create various computer applications among others by the end of their training.

He added that establishment of the SITENPREC Project was a Social Responsibility Initiative of the Company, which has been in the country since 2009, to train children from the basic school level of education to the advanced level in IT.

He is hopeful that the project will ultimately contribute significantly toward the creation of jobs through the use of technology, and empower entrepreneurship development among the youth of the Municipality.

He said operations of the Company not only covers education but also revenue assurance, collection of revenue monitoring, provision of IT solutions among others. He called for the collaboration and support of the people of the Ejisu Municipality to be able achieve the objective for which the Facility was established.

Samuel Yaw Adusei Opoku, Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, observed that the use of ICT remains an important ingredient for ensuring accelerated development of nations, and cited USA and China as examples of countries that have made good use of ICT to develop.

He noted that Government in recognition of this, and the potential of ICT to move the country toward the path of accelerated development, has embarked on several initiatives including the free distribution of laptops among other computer accessories to basic and tertiary students under the e-Government ICT project -- which aims at increasing access to ICT infrastructure and services in both the urban and underserved communities, and schools as well.

The Minister however revealed that despite the several efforts being made to make ICT accessible, many people in some communities of the country continue to lack access to ICT services -- thereby being denied the benefits associated with use of ICT. For this reason, he charged that any initiative to promote the teaching and learning of ICT in any part of the country should be given encouragement and support.

He was of the view that establishment of the SITENPREC Project, which is in line with Government’s plans to empower the people through the provision of knowledge, will provide avenues for employment, income-generation and improvement in education for those who make use of the Facility.

He entreated the people in the Ejisu Municipality, particularly the youth, to take advantage of the Facility to improve their knowledge and skills in ICT, and use it to contribute meaningfully toward development of the Region and the country as a whole.

He however cautioned the youth to refrein from abusing the Facility to commit cybercrimes and anti-social activities, and appealed to the programme facilitators to monitor and put control mechanism in place against such practices.