The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Samuel Nartey George, has advocated making the One Million Coders Programme a compulsory requirement for university graduation to equip students with practical digital skills for the job market.
He said graduates must acquire industry-relevant competencies alongside their academic qualifications to improve their readiness for employment in an increasingly technology-driven economy.
Speaking during an engagement with the management of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) in the Volta Region, Mr George said the programme was becoming an important complement to traditional university education.
According to him, students who complete their academic programmes without the digital skills required in their respective industries risk struggling to transition into the world of work.
“Even if you have a CGPA of 4.0 and you’ve not done the One Million Coders Programme, you won’t be allowed to graduate,” he said, describing the approach as necessary to prepare students for the changing demands of employment.
Sam George explained that the programme provides specialised, industry-tailored training that enables graduates to apply digital tools and knowledge to their professional fields.
He compared it to professional training undertaken after university degrees, arguing that the One Million Coders Programme could give graduates an additional layer of specialisation.
The Minister cited the experience of a graduate from Ho Technical University who had enrolled in the programme after recognising that his academic qualification alone had not provided all the skills he needed for the job market.
He said the graduate had completed one course and was already pursuing a second within less than four months, demonstrating the potential value of specialised digital training.
Hon. Sam George welcomed UHAS’s interest in integrating the programme into its curriculum and encouraged the university to structure the courses in a way that would ensure students acquired relevant skills before graduation.
The remarks came during a two-day working tour of the Volta Region by the Ministry and the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) to inspect One Million Coders Programme centres and rural telephony sites.
