Accra-Ghana, Oct 30, GNA – Access Bank Ghana has taken a significant step in fostering Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in Ghana, through its partnership with Amalitech for Coding for Kids (C4K) Project.
A statement issued by Access Bank Ghana, copied to the Ghana News Agency said the C4K project would provide coding education to 750 children aged between six and 16 years, in 10 schools in the Western Region of Ghana.
It said the project seeks to equip children in building basic applications, which would enhance their creativity and innovation skills as well as their computational thinking and problem-solving skills.
Speaking of the partnership, Mr Olumide Olatunji, the Managing Director of Access Bank Ghana, said the African continent had great talents and natural resources to help it compete globally therefore, interventions targeted at developing the critical thinking abilities of children was welcoming and must be pursued.
“With a good foundation in STEM education, in a right political climate, we can position the youth through education to work in Africa and reduce the brain drain we are experiencing,” he said.
He explained that promoting STEM education aligns with Access Bank’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Access Bank believes that investing in STEM education is a crucial step towards the promotion of quality education. The C4K project thus aligns with the Bank’s commitment to quality education,” he said.
Mr Matthew Darkwa, the Director for Operations at Amalitech, commended Access Bank Ghana for the partnership.
He said the project was the biggest among projects Amalitech was implementing in Ghana and promised an exciting era for the technology space in Ghana.
“If Ghana would grow digitally as a country, we must start with the children. C4K helps children to write codes such as HTML to give them a good understanding of the digital market at an early age,” Mr Darkwa stated.
“We are excited about this opportunity which will be impacting so many lives. This is the biggest child coding project we are undertaking in Ghana, and we are excited about the prospects,” he added.
The statement said the project’s first phase had already commenced, focusing on identification of the 10 participating schools, recruitment, training of facilitators and a three-day teen code bootcamp on Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) programming for a section of the students.
It said Access Bank remains committed to growing a sustainable business brand that impacts the communities it operates in 18 countries across the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia where it had presence.
It said the Bank had over the years invested in community development with emphasis on education, health, environment, sports, and enterprise, through its digital first approach, the Bank had developed a deep understanding of customers’ needs, delivered excellent service, and empowered them to achieve more through financial inclusion.
