A student from the Banda Islamic School in the Banda District of the Bono Region emerged as the best in the Girls in ICT competition held in the region for young females.
14-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 12 districts of the region.
Hawao Omoro is taking home GHS3000 cash price, a laptop and the establishment of an ultramodern Computer Laboratory for the school and some other personal rewards from the Minister for Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.
Other special awards were given to five outstanding performers throughout the entire training process.
Apart from the reward for the best 100 students, the best 20 schools will benefit from the establishment of an ICT laboratory to enable the schools scale up e-learning in their various schools.
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful in presenting the award urged the winner to be vigilant in pursuing the interest she has in Science and ICT.
Certificates were presented to all 1,000 girls who participated in the training programme and the 100 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 assured.
Hawao Omoro expressed gratitude to the Ministry 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.
