Savana Signatures celebrates ICT Day in Tamale

Tamale, April 28, GNA - The Savana Signatures (SAVSIGN), a Tamale based NGO at the weekend supported some students in the Tamale Metropolis to celebrate this year's ICT Day which fell last Thursday April 23, 2015.

Those that the NGO supported to celebrate the day were girls on its 'Tech Girls Project' it had initiated to orient girl children to recognize the value and importance of Science, Technology and Mathematics Education (STME).

The NGO targeted children at the basic and upper primary levels with the aim of encouraging children to opt for STME related courses and also to empower the children to use ICT skills to improve on their academic performances in school.

Mr John Stephen Agbenyo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SAVSIGN addressing the children stressed the importance of ICT education to the socio-economic development of developing countries.

He said there was a gap between girls and boys when it came to ICT training and that SAVSIGN had decided to train girls to become mentors to other girls to improve the teaching and learning of ICT in the country.

He said the main objective of the Tech Girls' project among others were to promote participation of girls in ICT skills development, increase the girls' confidence to use ICT tools, create awareness about the use of ICT tools to acquire knowledge skills, learn and effectively communicate, as well as to increase the girls' interest in continuing ICT education (STME).

Mr Agbenyo said in 2014 alone, about 120 school girls both in primary and Junior High Schools comprising 100 girls in primary and 20 girls in JHS, were enrolled on the project. They were drawn from the Tamale Metropolis, Sagnarigu District Assembly and the Savelugu Municipal Assembly and were trained in computer programming using Hypertext Markup, Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) and Hypertext Pre-processor (PHP).

He said the training had increased the girls' confidence levels because the project had exposed them to both basic and specialized computing including the use of internet facility to study saying, 'For example the local Tech girls interacted with their peers through the use of Google plus online meetings.

According to him the girls were also trained on leadership skills to enable them to take up leadership positions in school and the larger society. He added that Savana Signatures organized Tech Challenge Championships to test the understanding and knowledge levels of the beneficiaries in ICT and ICT for Development (ICT4D), which yielded positive results.

GNA