Leading telecommunication service provider MTN in partnership with Soronko Academy, has held an ICT mentorship session with some female pupils of the La Bawaleshie Presby Junior High School.
The initiative was part of efforts to encourage more girls to pursue careers in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and to increase the number of female ICT professionals as Ghana marks the International Girls’ in ICT day.
At the event, a five member team of female technocrats and engineers from MTN Ghana, shared inspiring career stories in the tech industry and encouraged the pupils to avail and challenge themselves in the IT sector.
The pupils were also taken through innovation challenge, android app development and presented with certificates after the workshop.
Senior Manager at MTN Ghana Foundation responsible for sustainable and social impact, Georgina Fiagbenu said, considering the few number of women in ICT, the foundation thinks it is important to get girls to be motivated to do ICT or Technology related courses.
She disclosed that the MTN Ghana Foundation a year ago partnered with two ICT organisations, Soronko Academy and Tech in Women to organize ICT and coding courses for young girls in tertiary institutions.
“Less than 3 percent of girls are in technology related careers and we want to change the story so the initiative is to get more girls to think about technology careers”, she averred.
Ag. Corporate Services Executive, MTN, Samuel Korangteng stressed the need to increase female participation in ICT considering the low interest and statistics.
According to him, more girls should be encouraged to pursue careers in ICT and engineering in Ghana and across the globe.
“The subject of ICT and engineering is not interesting, it also leads to careers that impact our everyday lives, makes a difference in our family, community and country, as well as helping make the world a better place”, he stated.
CEO of Soronko Academy, Regina Honu, said the academy has previously faced challenges convincing girls to study ICT because it was generally regarded by them as a career for boys
She however, said the academy has begun awareness creation on getting more girls to embrace technology and to know the options available.
“That is why the partnership with MTN has become necessary so us to push the agenda more positively”, she said.
By Wisdom Jonny-Nuekpe
