A total of 200 pupils in schools in the Akyemansa District of the Eastern Region have been trained on the fundamentals of “coding and programming” to help them design computer applications.
It was organised by the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications in partnership with the Institute of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professionals, as part of a two-year coding caravan embarked on by the two organisations.
Among other things, it seeks to create digital awareness among the pupils, especially those in the rural areas and equip them with basic ICT skills to help them come up with business ideas to solve societal problems.
The pupils were trained on coding, 3D printing, animations, development of applications, among other skills, by ICT instructors who took them through the training.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Dr Kenneth Ashigbey said for the country to be transformed, it was critical for it to take advantage of the “4th Industrial revolution” where the country should ride on Artificial Intelligence or the use of digital transformation tools to solve societal issues.
He said it was for that reason his outfit has partnered the Institute of ICT Professionals, and had for the past two years embarked on a coding caravan to train pupils in schools across the country, especially those in the rural areas on coding and the use of digital tools to create business ideas to solve societal issues.
“We chose the rural or remote areas to give pupils in those areas the opportunity to also learn this technological skill so that they will be empowered to use the skills learnt to solve their community problems and there will be no need to travel to urban areas before such problems are solved,” he said.
He stated that an ICT and Coding Laboratory would be set up soon by the member of parliament for the area to train and polish more pupils, adding that competition on coding would be held for pupils to encourage them bring up interesting business ideas to solve societal problems for the development of the country.
For his part, the Executive Director of the Institute of ICT Professionals, Dr David Gowu, indicated that the country had over 50 per cent young people who could be trained and given such coding skill using digital tools to enable them to solve the many societal issues for the development of the country.
He indicated that such empowerment of the young generation was necessary if the country wanted to transform into first class country.
Mr Gowu called on stakeholders in the private and government sector, as well as philanthropists to pool resources and help to provide more computers for pupils to enhance their learning and practice.
FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, OFOASE-AYIREBI