The Deputy Minister, Hon Ama Pomaa Boateng has declared open the 2022 Girls in ICT training for SHS on Cyber Security and Data Privacy targeted at a 100,000 girls across seven regions.
The program is organised by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE); Ghana Education Service (GES) and Huawei Technologies, Ghana.
Speaking at the St Mary Girls Vocational Institute – a TVET school in the Northern region ,Ms Ama Pomaa Boateng stated the importance of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Cyber Security in the day-to-day operations of entrepreneurs as well as building successful virtual businesses.
She encouraged the students to acquire ICT skills in order to participate in e-commerce and further choose career paths that would make them become globally significant within the digital space.
Hon Ama Pomaa Boateng advised the students to widen their entrepreneurship ideas to target potential clients through the reputable and secure social media platforms, financial apps and courier services .
He continued noting that every aspect of the daily living as well as their entrepreneurial skills requires the constant application of digital technologies to perform tasks and increase productivity in real time.
She advised the students to be cognisance of Ghana’s Cyber security Act and the Data Protection Act to protect the way they act as digital citizens and having good digital habits.
According to the Deputy Minister,the digital space enables women to learn and work from home at their convenience.
She said, “now in the comfort of your home, you can have your courses online and get a degree from any country in the world. Interviews are also now conducted online remotely; one can buy and sell products and services through online platforms irrespective of one’s location,e-health, e-banking & payments(Transfers like momo) , online Meetings, and all these are the possibilities of ICT advancement”.
Tamale Girl’s Secondary school
At the Tamale Girl’s SHS, Mrs. Pomaa Boateng emphasized that students should be guided and cautious of the contents they post and share online because the internet is a whole new world that offers the ability to store information online forever and posts on social media can be retrieved at any time from anywhere.
The deputy minister claims that there are many predators in the digital world who hide behind the internet. As a result, students should refrain from downloading apps and accepting online friend requests from total strangers.
Posting or sending nudes was the most concerning thing she noted, and it should be avoided at all costs.
She cautioned that, inappropriate contents posted online could damage a person’s reputation and could affect his/her career in future because employers nowadays investigate a prospective employee’s background checks via their online activities and posts.
Some beneficiary schools for this year’s training in the seven regions include Our Lady of Mount Camel Senior High School, St Ann’s Girls Senior High, Our Lady of Providence Senior High, Notre Dame Girls Senior High, Ola Girls Senior High, Serwaa Kese Girls Senior High, Tamale Girls Senior High, E.P.C Mawuko Girls Senior High, St Catherine Girls Senior High and Kyabobo Girls school among others.
