Accra, Jan. 21, GNA - Mr. John Dramani Mahama, the Vice President, on Thursday called on the developers of school curricular to consider mainstreaming Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into school curricular at all levels. This, he said, would enhance the technological knowledge of children who had no access to computers and technology in their homes. Mr. Mahama said this when he received a delegation from the Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) who came to invite him to chair their Fourth African Conference in Accra from May 17-21.

FOSSFA would, among other things, train about 1,000 people in pre-conference programmes, hold conferences and plenary sessions and have adequate awards and technology exhibitions. The Vice President also appealed to ICT experts to draw up comprehensive programmes that would educate the youth against cyber fraud which had gained notoriety in the country for some time now. He appealed to the experts to find a way of making ICT accessible to the youth considering the high cost of computers and other accessories that prevented underprivileged people from acquiring them. "ICT is a critical sector that can galvanize development in the country and therefore should be given special attention to triumph." Mr. Mahama attributed the high rate of piracy in the country to the high cost of ICT facilities and appealed to FOSSFA to device means of discouraging the canker in the country.

Madam Nnenna Nwakanma, Chairperson of FOSSFA, said the Foundation was primarily formed as an African initiative to support Africans to achieve the technological aspirations in the continent. She said their activities would not only focus on technology, but would also engage in education, health, business, media innovation and Geographic Information Systems and Open Education Resources. Madam Nwakanma said FOSSFA would reward African technologists and encourage them to use information and technology to develop their own people in the continent. Madam Dorothy Gordon, Director-General of the Advanced Information Technology Institute of the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence, said they would do everything possible to make ICT accessible to Africans in the coming years. 21 Jan. 10