The government of Finland has partnered with Nokia and the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) to launch the Africa Codebus training program for young children in some selected schools in Accra.
The 4-day training event, which is currently underway at MEST is geared towards training the young pupils in internet coding and other adventures in Technology.
[contextly_sidebar id=”avMqCooyowPrwrlYartLN9Ye4bbr4ext”]Speaking to Citi News at the launch of the program, Pirjo Suomela Chowdry, Finland’s Ambassador in Nigeria said, the project is part of Finland’s 100th independence anniversary celebration.
She said it was of great delight to hold the program in Ghana considering the “very good relations” between the two countries.
According to her, she has been engaging the Minister of Education Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh on some potential areas of cooperation between the two countries in that area.
She also lauded the minister for his commitment towards promoting quality education in Ghana.
“This project is part of Finland’s 100-anniversary celebration, Finland became an Independent Nation in 1917, so this year we are 100 years old, so we are organizing in celebration in Finland and all over the world… Our main anniversary year activity in Ghana is Codebus Africa, this is a project that is Africa-wide and I’m really happy that we can launch it in Ghana. Finland and Ghana have very good relations.”
She added that, “I had a discussion yesterday with the new Ghanaian Education minister and we spoke about many potential areas of cooperation. He is clearly extremely committed to promoting quality education in Ghana and we discussed many areas where there could be potential for cooperation in education like teacher training or vocational education; these are both areas where in Finland, we put a lot of emphasis on.”
The Head of Operations at MEST, Celine Duros explained, that Mest Africa, as a training platform for aspiring software entrepreneurs was excited at the opportunity to host the 4-day training aimed at raising awareness about the opportunities for kids.
She also revealed that MEST was exploring the possibility of partnering the ministry of Education to expand the project to cater for a lot more Ghanaian pupils.
“We [MEST] are a training platform for aspiring software entrepreneurs, so basically we train people how to code on a daily basis so that they can build their companies, wealth and jobs… We are raising awareness for about the opportunities for the kids, especially the girls; we have put a lot of effort in ensuring we have a 50-50 female, male representation.”
Nokia’s African Regional Communications Manager, Riham Khairy also told Citi News that the company wanted to promote the use of technology on the continent especially among girls.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor