The Minister of Communications and Digitilisation,Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful,has inaugurated a fully-furnished Information and Communication Technology (ICT) laboratory for the Sefwi-Wiawso Senior High School in  the Western North Region.

The laboratory, which has 40 new desktop computers with accessories, was funded by the Ghana Investment for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) and would  provide  ICT opportunities to  schools, as part of the efforts to bridge  digital gap in the country.

In her address last Friday, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful expressed government’s  commitment  to equip young people with  skills they needed to succeed in life.

She noted that  the current technological revolution emphasised the critical role technology played  in the digital world, hence the need for everybody   to be ICT literate.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful commended Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, the Member of Parliament for Sefwi Wiawso and other prominent indigenes, for the role they played to  make  the project a reality.

She again advised the students to use the laboratory profitably, especially for research and be  abreast current technological advancements.

“The government is  committed to provide students with the right skills, devices and training to compete favourably with their peers in other countries.” the minister assured.

The Administrator of GIFEC,MrPrince Ofosu Sefah, spoke about the significant role of ICT in development  and commended President Nana Akufo-Addo for ensuring that school children acquired the relevant skills to make them functional in the society 

GIFEC,he added, was facilitating teaching and learning of ICT in Basic and Senior High Schools through the deployment of ICT equipment and internet facilities.

“We are doing this with the school connectivity project, through which desktops, printers and scanners are being provided for over 1,020 schools across the country.” he said.

Mr Sefah said 26 Basic and Senior High schools had benefited from the project in the Western North Region while  more than 7,000 people, including teachers, students, artisans, head porters and identifiable women groups had also  been trained in basic ICT skills in the region.

The Assistant Headmaster of the school,Mr Benjamin Ballow, reported that  the school offered ICT as an elective subject and believedthe ICT facility would help in teaching and learning.

He called  on other organisations to assist the school which was established in 1961 and  now had a student population of 1,877, with 79 teaching and 39 non-teaching staff.

Mr Balloe expressed gratitude to the government and prayed it continued to assist the school to cater for the increasing enrolment due to the Free Senior High School Policy.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful had inspected works on the Government of Ghana Funded Ghana Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project, at Abrabra and Nkyonya, as part of her tour of GIFEC project sites in  the Sefwi Wiawso Municipality of the Western North Region. 

She inaugurated  a Rural Telephony Project site at Mile 3, in the same district.

The Rural Telephony Project is implemented by GIFEC in partnership with Huawei and Mobile Network Operators ((MNOs) through a Tripartite Partnership Arrangement, which offers a significant reduction in Cost of Ownership and Maintenance by as much as 70 per cent.

The project seeks to provide telecommunications infrastructure and service to communities where MNOs are unable to deploy due to economic or other constraints. 

During a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief Of Sefwi Wiawso Okatakyie Kwesi Bumagama II, the minister  indicated that her tourof Western North, was  to get  a first- hand information on the Ghana Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion project and  visit also the training centres of the Girls-in-ICT project.

The Girls in ICT programme, she mentioned, had benefitted 900 girls in the region and  100 from Prestea- Huni Valley  in the Western Region. 

She said : “The ministry aims at expanding the  rural telephony project to the various underserved communities.We will ensure that rural areas without networks are connected. Without network, one cannot takepart in the digital activities.”

Accompanying the Minister were the Chief Director, Mrs. Magdalene Apenteng, Director, Research Statistics and Information Management (RSIM), Mr. Alfred Nortey; Mr Prince Sefa, Administrator, GIFEC; Ms Eva Andoh-Opoku, Deputy Administrator, GIFEC and the Municipal Chief Executive of Sefwi Wiawso , Hon. Lewis Owusu Agyapong.

From Clement Adze Boye, Sefwi Wiawso