Volta Region gets 900 laptops for coding drive

Before a single laptop had been handed to a single student, more than 2,000 young people in the Volta Region had already put their names down.

That registration surge, recorded within days of the portal going live, speaks to something the arrival of 900 Lenovo laptops at the Volta Regional Coordinating Council this week has now made tangible: a generation that knows the world is moving, and does not want to be left behind.

The equipment, delivered Monday through the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications, marks the Volta Region’s entry point into President John Dramani Mahama’s One Million Coders Programme, an initiative designed to build a digitally literate workforce across the country, one district at a time.

Sixteen districts across the region are earmarked for the first phase, with two more to follow. Training is set to begin May 4, with participants working through courses spanning coding, website design, internet applications, Microsoft Office tools, and other competencies tied to real business and professional use. Crucially, participants will not simply be assigned a curriculum; they will choose their area of focus during registration, allowing the training to follow individual interest rather than a one-size-fits-all template. Facilitators holding first and postgraduate degrees in computing and related fields have been brought in to run the sessions.

GIFEC’s Volta Regional Director, Dr Francis Seglah, framed the stakes plainly.

“We are in a world of technology, and without computing skills, it will be difficult for many young people to succeed in business and other sectors. These machines will help train the youth in coding, computer languages, and digital tools to improve their opportunities and businesses,” he said.

Receiving the laptops on behalf of the Volta Regional Minister, VRCC Chief Director Alhaji Mohammed Avona Akape gave assurances that the equipment would be properly secured before distribution to the Municipal and District Assemblies.

“We have received these items and will ensure that they are safely kept and distributed to the various Assemblies for the purpose intended,” he said.

The laptops will sit with the VRCC briefly, but if the registration numbers are any indication, the young people waiting for them are not sitting at all.