A student from the Banda Islamic School in the Banda District of the Bono region emerged the best in the Girls in ICT competition held in the region for young females.
Fourteen-year-old Hawao Omoro beat 99 other students to emerge the overall best in the regional competition which was keenly contested among the participating schools in the twelve districts of the region.
Hawao Omoro took home GHC3,000 cash prize, a laptop and the establishment of an ultramodern Computer Laboratory for the school, and other personal rewards from the Minister for Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.
Other special awards were given to five outstanding performers in the training process. Apart from the reward for the best one hundred students, the best twenty schools will benefit from the establishment of ICT laboratories to enable the schools to scale up e-learning.
Minister for Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful urged the winner to continue pursuing the interest she has in Science and ICT.
Certificates were presented to all one thousand girls who participated in the training programme and the one hundred teachers and coordinators.
The Girls in ICT seeks to introduce girls and young women to ICT, expose them to opportunities existing in the ICT sector, inspire them to embrace ICT and studies in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), raise awareness amongst them and ultimately get them to pursue careers in these fields, as the whole world migrates to increased use of digital platforms.
“We need to develop and grow the digital literacy skills of our children for them to become solution providers and innovators able to use technology to solve socio-economic problems. We are hopeful that in time, their innovative solutions will not only have national application but also meet global demand. Our strategy is to catch them young to inculcate the ICT spirit in them,” the minister said.
Hawao Omoro expressed her gratitude to the ministry of communications and sponsors for the initiative. She disclosed that her dream of becoming a nurse in future will be enhanced with the basic ICT skills acquired from the programme.
