The Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, and the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) have jointly donated 2,500 laptops to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
The gesture is aimed at supporting the Government’s One Million Coders Programme to ensure the sustainability and success of the Programme. The donation was made during a working visit to the Ashanti Region to assess the ease of making calls and browsing the internet in various communities.
Presenting the laptops to the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Christian Agyare, the sector Minister, Samuel Nartey George, said the Ministry was redesigning its engagement with KNUST, with the 2,500 laptops supporting training for Level 300 and Level 400 students as they prepare to exit the university.
Mr George said while the government was training one million people under the coders programme, the next critical question is what happens after the training. According to him, the Ministry’s task was to create jobs for the trainees.
He stated that to achieve this, there was the need to create a critical mass of skilled personnel, since most of the job opportunities were from other jurisdictions. He said the Ministry was mapping out available opportunities and engaging the Business Outsourcing Services Association of Ghana to link graduates to jobs.
He noted that the database of graduates, including some 10,000 trained data annotators under the programme, will be shared with outsourcing companies to enable them to pitch for international jobs and bring them to Ghana, with the ultimate aim of creating 100,000 digitally-enabled jobs.
The Minister described the partnership between the Ministry and KNUST as crucial, stressing that Artificial Intelligence (AI) was critical to the country’s future development.
He disclosed that as the programme moves into the implementation phase, KNUST would benefit from Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) signed with other universities abroad.
He said the government was looking at building local language models led by traditional authorities and local academics to create voice interfaces, adding that by next year, the country should have 5G services to transform policy into action.
He said support to tertiary institutions, including technical universities and universities, has been scaled up from 500 to 2,500 laptops, with focus shifting from first-year students to final-year students to prepare graduates for the world of work.
He explained that the Ministry was monitoring implementation over the next few years to optimise service delivery, in line with the government’s reset agenda.
The Minister and his entourage also visited the Responsible Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (RAIL) on the KNUST campus, where he interacted with students and encouraged them to embrace teamwork and collaborate with peers in other universities.
The Minister also visited the Ashanti Regional GIFEC office at Kwadaso, Asawase and Nkwantakese Digital Centres where most young men and women are being trained under the government coders programme.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Christian Agyare, commended the Minister for the donation and for recognising KNUST as a partner. He said the university was committed and ready to receive the beneficiaries, describing the decision to target final-year students as an excellent idea.
He noted that programmes run outside the classroom are aimed at reducing unemployment and entreated the Minister, as an alumnus of the university, to continue to be an ambassador for KNUST, commending him for making the university proud.
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