Gov’t will not lower certification standards under One Million Coders Programme – Sam George

The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Samuel Nartey George, says that the government will maintain international certification standards under the One Million Coders Programme (OMCP), even if the requirements make the training more demanding for beneficiaries.

He explained that lowering the standards could undermine the international recognition of certificates earned by trainees and jeopardise remote employment opportunities being secured for graduates.

Mr George made the remarks during an interaction with trainees as part of a monitoring tour of OMCP learning centres and rural telephony projects in the Volta Region.

He was responding to concerns from a beneficiary training to become a cybersecurity expert, who said the course was too demanding.

The Minister insisted that maintaining internationally recognised certification benchmarks was in the best interest of trainees, as the government sought to prepare them for opportunities beyond Ghana.

He disclosed that the government was engaging Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies to create internship and remote employment opportunities for programme graduates.

Among the companies involved is a Kenyan firm seeking to establish a centre in Ghana with plans to employ 5,000 people, he said.

According to Mr George, the courses offered under the OMCP were deliberately selected to meet the skills requirements of such companies.

He urged beneficiaries to progress beyond the beginner level to advanced training, noting that the job market increasingly required higher-level competencies.

The Minister added that the training modules were self-paced and free, allowing participants to continue their studies outside the learning centres using their login credentials.

He also encouraged trainees with general academic backgrounds to complete the specialised information and communications technology (ICT) versions of their courses to improve their readiness for the job market.

As part of the tour, the Minister presented 200 Lenovo laptops to the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) in Ho under the programme.

The laptops feature Intel Core i5 processors, 16GB of RAM, 512GB solid-state drive storage and Windows 11 operating systems.

Mr George said the donation was intended to equip future healthcare professionals with digital skills to complement their clinical training as the university expanded technology-based learning.

“The medical field is changing very fast. Telemedicine is a big part of the world today, where you have doctors sitting in John Hopkins and carrying out surgery 7,000 miles across the ocean using robotic arms,” he said.

He stressed the importance of combining clinical expertise with technological knowledge to keep pace with advances in medical practice.

Vice-Chancellor of UHAS, Professor Lydia Aziato, expressed gratitude for the support, saying the selected OMCP learning pathways would complement the university’s professional health sciences training.

She added that the courses would help students develop skills in digital literacy, data analytics and emerging technologies.