Accra, Ghana, August 15, 2019//-Nearly 700 teachers in Ghana completed their digital skills training this month as part of the country’s preparations for SAP Africa Code Week aims to introduce 1.5 million young Africans to digital and coding skills this year.
Similar to its peers across the continent, Ghana boasts a growing youthful workforce, with an estimated 57% of the current population aged 25 and under. It is one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies with GDP growth of 6.3% in 2018; this is expected to increase to 7.6% in 2019.
In 2017, the Ghanaian government also made secondary education free, which has played a major role in increasing the country’s literacy rate. According to UNESCO, Ghana’s youth literacy rate has increased from 71% in 2000 to 86% in 2010.
According to Claire Gillissen-Duval, Director of EMEA Corporate Social Responsibility and Africa Code Week Global Lead at SAP, the great strides Ghana has made toward improving access to education for all and achieving universal enrolment has not made it immune to the continent-wide teaching skills shortage. “This is having an impact on our collective ability to train the next generation of digital workers who will power Africa’s economy in the Fourth Industrial Economy.
She adds that the Train-the-Trainer workshops are designed to empower teachers with valuable 21st century digital skills and create a sense of excitement and enthusiasm around the possibilities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Ghana’s Train-the-Trainer programme also enjoys the support of Africa Code Week partner DreamOval Foundation. According to Francis Ahene-Affoh, SVP of the DreamOval Foundation, the Train-the-Trainer workshops are also an opportunity to create, share and utilise knowledge in the education and technology sectors in the service of digital skills development.
Ghana will celebrate Africa Code Week from 14 to 25 October 2019. Further Train-the-Trainer workshops will be held in Nigeria on 10, 13 and 15 August, and in Kenya from 19 to 23 August. A full schedule of workshops and other Africa Code Week activities can be found on www.africacodeweek.org
- African countries are facing a massive challenge with finding teachers: an estimated 17 million are needed to achieve the goal of universal primary and secondary school education by 2030.
- Only one-quarter of pre-school teachers in sub-Saharan Africa are trained. About half of all upper secondary school teachers are trained.
- Sub-Saharan Africa has more than doubled the number of pupils enrolled in primary school between 1990 and 2015, from 60 million to 157 million.
- An estimated 65% of children starting primary school today will end up working in jobs that don’t yet exist.
- Nearly two-thirds of employees working for African organisations in a recent World Bank study require at least basic digital skills to do their jobs.
- According to the World Bank, global employers consider digital skills to be among the top seven most important skills for the future workforce.
African Eye Report