A 14-year-old student of St Paul’s Roman Catholic Junior High in the Tamale Metropolis, Christiana Wehle Awiah, has been named the winner of the Northern Region Girls in ICT Competition.

She received a laptop, plaque, and certificate of participation and a cash price of GH₵3000. The second person also received the same and a cash price of GH₵2500 and the third GH₵2000 respectively.

In a short remark, Christiana who expressed excitement for her achievement indicated that she was determined to make her headmistress proud for believing in her.

According to her, though she knew how to play around the computer, “this is my first time learning how to code. How wonderful I felt knowing I can instruct the computer to create games, animations, stories, and websites”.

The training, she said, gave her the ability to think critically in solving problems step by step.

“Before last week, my desire was to be a lecturer in human languages but with this exposure, I intend to explore the possibility of lecturing in computer languages. Girls-in-ICT has really aligned with my aspirations”, she added.

She thanked the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful for expanding the initiative to reach girls in the Northern Region.

“Thanks to Girls in ICT, my 999 friends and I learnt of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and its related careers. Because you believed in us, I want to promise on behalf of my friends, Hon. Minister, that we have accepted the challenge to take up STEM-related careers. Hon Ursula, we shall surely make you proud”.

She also thanked the MOCD, the Regional Minister, Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), MMDAs, GIFEC, MTN, KACE, Regional and District Education Officers, teachers and parents for their support throughout the program.

In all, 1000 girls were trained in basic ICT skills, coding, website development among others.