Bright Senior High School (SHS), a private educational institution at Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region, is to benefit from the government's flagship One Million Coders Programme.
The Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, said the ministry's decision to include students of Bright Senior High was in recognition of the school's impressive performance in reaching the semi-final stage of this year’s National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) competition.
This is the first time that a private SHS has reached the semi-final stage of the competition at the national level since the competition started in 1993.
The Minister, who was touring some parts of the Eastern Region to inspect rural telephony challenges, took time to visit the private school to congratulate the students who took part in the competition, which was not on his itinerary.
Mr Nartey George said management of the school would, however, sign an agreement with the ministry, after which his outfit would train the teachers who would in turn transfer the knowledge to the students.
The programme, he stated, would last between 10 and 12 weeks during which an ICT centre would be established in the school.
Laptops, Nartey George further indicated, would be made available for the students to enable students to learn ICT effectively and efficiently.
"If you as management sign the agreement, government will then provide all the necessary materials for the programme to take off smoothly in your school", the Minister stated.
One million Ghanaians
Giving details of the Coders Programme, the Minister said the project would progressively roll on one million Ghanaians irrespective of age onto the programme to be trained within a period of four years.
Mr Nartey George further stressed that students from 13 universities had already been enrolled in the project, to be followed by SHS students.
He therefore urged management of Bright SHS to take the opportunity to enrol its students in the programme to derive full benefits of ICT.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Rita Akosua Adjei Awatey, who accompanied the Minister, was happy that a private SHS such as Bright SHS was able to beat the Achimota SHS at the competition.
The President of the Bright Senior High School, Dr Bright Amponsah, said the triumph of the school was for all private senior high schools in the country since they could also perform in all fields just like the well-established government senior high schools.
One of the team members who excellently participated in the competition, Damoah Richmond Kwabena, told the Daily Graphic that he was happy that the school had reached the semi-final stage and that next year they would get to the grand finale.
