Cyber Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that seeks to train young people in the digital space to fight cybercrime and other cyber-related issues in the country, has held a symposium to equip young girls with technological knowledge and hands-on practice in Information and Technology (IT).
A Software Engineer with the Organization, Mr Samuel Afotey Laryea in an interview with Spice News revealed that the core mandate of the organization was to bridge the gap of unemployment by training girls to have an interest in the digital world.
According to him, as the world advances with technology, it was important to kindle the interest of young people especially, girls to take advantage of the new skills in technology to enable them to create jobs for themselves and others.
He stated that currently, the organization can boast about six laboratories across the country where people are being trained in the assembling of drones, certified hacking, digital forensics and other cyber-related skills.
However, he bemoaned the little effort on the side of the government in including technology education in the educational curriculum taking into consideration primary and secondary education.
Mr Laryea expressed the hope that equipping the girls with such skills would influence their choice of program to study in the university.
“Our research shows that we need to start giving such skills starting from Junior High School and Senior High School levels. So by the time, they get to the university, they already know what they want to specialise in”, he stressed.
He also commended the Head of Schools for embracing the establishment of Cyber Clubs in their respective schools and encouraged students to join the club for their own good.
He mentioned financial constraint as a major challenge to the project and called on stakeholders to invest in technology since the world revolves around technological tools for development.
Participants who shared their experiences stated that the knowledge imparted to them would be put into good use because the world was “changing with the times” and so it was important to get equipped with such knowledge.
Story: Benedicta Ackney
