This year's 'Girls-In-ICT Day' celebration has ended in Koforidua, the Eastern regional capital.

The event, held on Tuesday April 28, 2014, brought together over 400 student-girls selected 50 basic schools in some municipal and district assemblies in the Eastern Region.

As part of the activities to mark the occasion, the students were taken through a series of activities involving hands-on ICT workshops aimed at promoting opportunities for girls in science, technology and engineering.

A competition to test the girls on the identification of computing elements and their functions dubbed 'Girls in ICT Marathon' preceded the main event.

The Girls in ICT Day celebration is held in April every year to pay tribute to women's contribution to technology careers to a new generation of girls with interest science and mathematics.

The initiative is backed by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) member states.

Speaking at the function, Dr.Edward Omane-Boamah, Minister of Communications said government is pursuing a vigorous national broadband infrastructure development to reach all parts of the country to provide enough bandwidth capacity for ICT deployment.

According to him the programme will open up business opportunities and promote research, innovation, training and skills acquisition.

To make the programme a reality government has already begun the construction of the eastern corridor optic fibre transmission network stretching from Ho to Bawku linking Tamale to connect more than 120 rural communities.

Dr.Omane-Boamah stated that government expects to rapidly expand access to quality education by placing technology at the centre of a knowledge-based economy through the expansion of the broadband framework.

On dealing with cyber crime and protecting the safety of children on-line, the minister said government is collaborating with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to establish a Computer Incidence Response Team (CIRT) to improve internet security.

He said his ministry and the Gender, Children and Social Protection ministry are discussing a legal framework that can serve the best interest of children on-line.