A three month ICT training project dubbed TechConnect organised by e-Inclusion a Non-governmental agency in partnership with Vodafone Ghana Foundation, came to a successful end with a grand opening of a state of the art ICT centre.
The event which was held on 1st April, 2016 had the paramount chief of Aflao traditional area, the municipal director of education, the district coordinator of girl child education and heads of participating schools in attendance.
The three month programme saw participants from four selected Junior High Schools with a total student population of about 4000 with no access to ICT labs or facilities, introduced to basic ICT tools, how to use them, as well as their impact on education.
The project was primarily aimed at Promoting and encouraging the use of ICT by girls at all levels of education to assist in resolving the gender inequality in the ICT industry.
A total of 120 pupils out of which 96% were girls, benefited from the training made available. Though the program was centred on ICT, participant were also taken through sessions on Personal Hygiene, Career Guidance and Counselling, Career opportunities in the ICT (STEM) industries for girls, among other engaging activities.
One of the Key highlights of the project is the establishment of e-Inclusion’s Tech Clubs in participating schools to encourage girls to consider careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
e-Inclusion as part of this project has also established a fully furnished ICT hub for these cluster of schools (using existing infrastructure) to be managed jointly with the heads of selected schools. The hub is equipped with laptop computers and text books to serve as a reference material for both teachers and pupils
In addition to this facility a High Speed Internet has also been made available at the Hub to aid both students and Teachers in their research work.
It is expected that this facility will impact positively on ICT education for the selected 4 Junior High Schools with a total student population of about 4000 which hitherto had no access to ICT labs or facilities.
Also, other Community Schools within the enclave will benefit immensely from the e-Inclusion TechHub
It is also expected that better grades in ICT will be recorded in subsequent BECE results with continuous monitoring and evaluation programme which will be instituted by e-Inclusion.
Speaking at the launch of the ICT centre, the paramount Chief of Aflao Traditional Area, Torgbui Adzonugaga Amenya Fiti V expressed his excitement about the project and how it would go a long way to improve on academic performance of pupils in the community. He also encouraged the participating schools and the entire community to take advantage of the facility.
In her address, Mrs. Veronica Affuah Da-Silva, founder and CEO of e-Inclusion hinted on plans by her organisation to explore opportunities available in the donor world to bring more of such projects to develop the youth to their highest potential
She also encouraged all beneficiaries to take advantage of the facility to enable the project achieve the desired impact.
