Dep. Minister wants computer science to be made a core subject

The Deputy Bono Regional Minister, Siakwa Stevens, is pushing for a study of computer science to be made compulsory and a core subject from the basic to secondary school levels.

According to him, the country cannot attain the needed progress it seeks to achieve without the efficient application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

He stressed that accelerated progress is based on the knowledge of computer science hence, the need for it to be made part of the core subjects – English language, Mathematics, integrated science, and social studies.

The Member of Parliament for Jaman North, and the immediate past Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, made the call when he addressed a section of students of the Sunyani Senior High School (SHS) to climax a three-day computer programming practical training in Sunyani.

The training dubbed “Hour of Code” focused on introducing the students to ICT for inventions, how to become computer application developers and how they would choose their career path at the tertiary level with the effective use of computer knowledge for socio-economic development.

Mr Stevens, however, urged pupils and Junior High School students to take computer lessons serious for their academic and professional progress.

On his part, ICT tutor for the Sunyani senior high school, Gabriel Kwadwo Afram, said: “ICT is about creativity and problem solving”.

He said if the nation placed a premium on its studies, it could lead to job creation and consequently wealth-creation for an improved standard of living, he said.