e-Inclusion, a non-governmental agency in partnership with Vodafone Ghana Foundation, will organize a 3 Month ICT Project dubbed ‘TechConnect’ in Aflao in the Ketu South District of the Volta region.
The project is set to benefit a population of about 66,546 people in the border town, which has recorded a high level of deprivation and lack of educational facilitates to aid students in their studies.
As part of Project TechConnect selection criteria, four Junior High Schools with a total student population of about 4000 with no access to ICT labs have been nominated to participate in the project.
In view of this, Project TechConnect will be training students on ICT with a focus on its relevance to education and the overview of ICT syllabus for Junior High School pupils.
According to the organisers, the role of Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a tool for development in the world cannot be overemphasized.
“This requires prioritization of ICT in every country. Ghana as a developing country needs to consistently upgrade its ICT to capitalize on opportunities and gain competitive advantage over others globally”, Veronica Affuah Da-Silva, Founder and CEO of e-Inclusion said.
She added that the project will address gender inequality and empowerment of females, especially girls through ICT by working with NGOs and CBOs (Community Based Organizations) to support pupils in “deprived” communities.
“In our communities, access to ICT materials remains a challenge due to cost and lack of facilities. As part of the project objective, e-Inclusion will be organising ICT clinics, using ICT tools for a cluster of four community based Junior High School pupils”, she stressed.
Madam Affuah Da-Silva explained that the pupils will be introduced to basic ICT tools, how to use them, as well as their impact on education with an expectation of reaching a total of 120 pupils who will benefit from the ICT clinic.
She stated that the project is also aimed at promoting and encouraging the use of ICT by girls at all levels of education.
“As part of the clinic, a special competition will be organised amongst the girls from the CBS as a way of motivating them into the field”, she said.
“One Key target 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)”, she added.
She announced that for the sustainability of the project, e-Inclusion will be donating ICT Tools to the CBS.
About e-Inclusion TechHub
e-Inclusion as part of this project is establishing a fully furnished ICT hub for these cluster of schools (using existing infrastructure) to be managed jointly with e-Inclusion. Vodafone Foundation is also donating 10 laptops in support of this ICT hub.
In view of this, ICT instructors will be trained on e- Library Management Tool. This is a soft tool which can help in easy management of the Library
In addition to this facility a High Speed Internet will also be made available at the Hub to aid both students and Teachers in their research work.
