Kofi Annan Centre train over 600 in ICT

Accra, Feb. 4, GNA - More than 600 Ghanaians and 35 foreigners from various West African countries have so far benefited in the globally market-oriented Information Technology training at the Ghana-India Kofi Anna Centre of Excellence.

Thirty of the 35 international students, who were refugees from Liberia, are expected to use their acquired expertise to contribute to the reconstruction process in their country.

The Ghanaian beneficiaries included staff of Parliament, Members of the Council of State, Chiefs, individuals, staff of various corporate bodies and other development agencies.

The Centre, Ghana's first Advanced Information Technology Institute (AITI), was set up in 2003 to create the right environment to stimulate high-level context-responsive ICT research and development in the West Africa Sub-Region.

It offers more than 10 courses including Diploma in Advanced Computing, Business Computing, Web Technologies, Certificate in Programming and Certificate in Database Technologies.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency on Friday, Ms Adjoa Owusu, the Centre's Business Liaison Officer, said the courses being offered were developed in collaboration with AITI's premier partner, Centre of Advanced Computing in India and tailored to suit international specifications.

She said the courses included an entrepreneur module and participants were provided with the rudiments of how to develop viable business plans.

Ms Owusu said so far there was a real gender divide and the Centre was making active effort to encourage more women to enrol for its programmes.

"There is the need to demystify IT as a "For Men" arena because gradually women are becoming more interested in IT," she said. Mrs Sandra Tei-Dornno, a Communication Expert and Instructor, announced the introduction of a new course in Advanced Computer Art, which she said focused on the creative and technical aspects of multimedia application development, content creation and interactive application development to commence in March this year.

She said the programme would be a foundation for candidates, who wanted to advance in the field of multimedia or print publishing.

Mrs Tei-Dornno said participants, who had gone through some courses, found that they were prepared for the job market and in the instances where they were already working, it had enabled them to give positive feedback in terms of the relevance of their new skills to their jobs. She said Enterprise ICT Security Programme, which had immensely benefited neighbouring countries, was part of the courses.