A government agency tasked with expanding digital access is preparing to transform its community information centers across the Upper East Region into digital innovation hubs that will train young people in computer programming.
The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications operates 18 community information centers across the region’s districts, which will serve as venues for the government’s One Million Coders project, according to Regional Manager Martin Aberba.
“In the year ahead, we will be calling our CICs digital innovation centers, where we will be training the youth in those centers for the One Million Coders,” Aberba said.
The centers, which currently provide ICT training for students, women’s groups, entrepreneurs, and artisans, are located in nearly every district, including Bolga, Bongo, Talensi, and Nabdam. GIFEC’s regional office in Bolgatanga is situated opposite the high court building.
The agency has previously organized training programs teaching carpenters to use AutoCAD for roof design and helping masons use technology for building estimates. Teachers have received training on using ICT for lesson delivery.
Mr. Aberba said most of the region’s community information centers are currently non-operational due to maintenance issues but should be running by early next year, with support from members of parliament and district chief executives.
One of GIFEC’s flagship programs is Girls in ICT, which trains 1,000 girls and 100 teachers annually in programming, software development and computer fundamentals. The program, executed by GIFEC under the Ministry of Communication, awards laptops to top performers and stocks computer labs for the 10 best-performing schools.
The Upper East Region was scheduled to host this year’s Girls in ICT program, but national security concerns related to security issues led to its postponement.
Mr. Aberba said specialized programs at the centers, such as software development courses, require payment, while general digital awareness training remains free.
Source: a1radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Bolgatanga
