GIFEC Rolls Out Digital Training Programme for Teachers
The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) and partners have rolled out a six-day digital training programme for teachers from six regions to help build an inclusive digital Ghanaian society.
The training is on Digital Transformation Centres (DTC) project, spanning three years, beginning from 2021.
It is sponsored by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) via the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).The 16 teachers involved in the training session were chosen from Bono East, North East, Ashanti, Greater Accra, Oti and Eastern regions.
Speaking with the Ghana News Agency during a visit by an ITU team led by GIFEC to the ongoing training programme in Kyebi, Mr Prince Ofosu Sefah, Chief Executive Officer of GIFEC, said the project aimed to equip Ghanaians with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills.
It is also to help the people, particularly the youth, to explore careers in ICT and venture into or improve their businesses.
“As we are in the COVID-19 global pandemic, ICT, is an even more pronounced catalyst in our development and presents a plethora of job opportunities,” he noted.
GIFEC and the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation intend to partner with more domestic and international stakeholders within the ICT ecosystem to undertake several such initiatives.
The CEO said the beneficiaries were expected to extend their newly acquired skills to students through the formation of Coding Clubs in their schools and train not less than 32 girls over the next two years.
The Coding Clubs would consist of 32 female students, who would be trained for the first year and another 32 female students after the first year. They would be equipped with the skills of coding in Scratch, Python and HTML among others.
Mr Sefah said the participating schools were provided with computer laboratories to enhance learning.
He also stressed the commitment of Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, for leading the digitalisation charge aimed at bridging the digital divide, especially within the relatively marginalised female population.
“This goal being a major mandate of GIFEC has the organisation working hand-in-hand on this agenda,” he said and expressed gratitude to the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation and ITU for the support.
Madam Susana Telcltscher, Head of Capacity and Skills Development at ITU, said the training was part of the ITU Capacity Development to help countries strengthen citizens knowledge in literacy and digital skills.
The training, she said, focused on coding skills as the fundamentals because a lot of jobs in the future would require programming and coding skills.
A teacher from Abuakwa D/A Junior High School, Ashanti Region, Madam Vivian Owusu Amankwa, was happy for being part of the training programme and assured that she would impart the skills acquired to her students.
