The Ministry of Communication is set to launch the One Million
Coders Programme to train one million young Ghanaians in digital skills.
The move is to empower them to thrive in the rapidly growing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) sectors.
The pilot-test of the programme to be launched on April 16 will cover Greater Accra, Ashanti, Bono, and Upper East regions.
The Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Mr Sam George, said this at a media briefing in Accra yesterday as part of his quarterly updates on progress of work at the Ministry.
He said the Ministry had begun mobilising partners to secure resources to implement the programme and deliver results at scale through strategic diplomacy and public-private partnerships.
The Minister indicated that under his guidance the Ghana Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT had developed a standardised curriculum in multiple skills disciplines at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels to enable a uniformed training ecosystem for all Ghanaians irrespective of the part of the country they reside.
He said a landmark memorandum had been signed with MTN Group and other private individuals and international partners to support the implementation, “all in line with our commitment to position Ghana as Africa’s premiere digital talent hub.”
“I am confident that several private partnerships would leverage our district assemblies and communities to achieve the ambitious goal of positioning Ghana as a net exporter of critical digital skills in the short to medium term,” he added.
The Minister noted that at the core of digital inclusion was affordable internet access targeted subsidies, discounted data packages and device financial schemes targeted at low income households.
The Minister stated that a multi-stakeholder co-Data Cost Ricing Committee comprising telecommunications service providers, consumer groups and regulators had been set up to deliver the roadmap implementation to achieve more cost effective data prices.
He said for the interim, he had agreed with all three network operators to have unique data bundle packages for all subscribers on five national holidays.
Mr George expressed concern about the current state of the legislative environment of the ministry, assuring that those outrageous laws needed to be redrafted to provide a transparent enabling environment for innovation, investment, and consumer protection.
BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU
