Digital skills training must translate into jobs and income – Dr. Apaak

The Deputy Minister for Education, Dr. Clement Abas Apaak, has called for stronger monitoring of digital-skills programmes, saying their success should be measured not only by the number of people trained but also by how many secure jobs, obtain internships, establish businesses or generate income.

Dr. Apaak made the call during the 2026 Break the Code: Capture the Flag (BRCTF) event in Accra on Thursday, October 22.

Speaking on the theme “Education for the Digital Economy: From Classroom to Global Jobs,” he said organisers of digital-skills initiatives must develop systems to track participants’ progress after training and competitions.

“The number of people trained matters, but it cannot be the final measure,” Dr. Apaak said.

He proposed a broader assessment of programme outcomes, including whether participants demonstrate competence, obtain certifications, secure internships or enter employment.

“We should also ask: how many demonstrated competence? How many were certified? How many secured internships or entered employment? How many created businesses or generated income? And six months later, are they still progressing?” he said.

Dr. Apaak urged BRCTF organisers to build a system that follows participants beyond the competition to establish whether the initiative is helping them access real economic opportunities.

“For BRCTF, I encourage the organisers to keep building a strong post-event tracking system. Let us meet again not only to discuss who won, but to hear who got their first interview, who started an internship, who secured their first technology job, and who built a company of their own,” he said.

“That is the story we want to tell.”

Dr. Apaak said practical competitions such as Capture the Flag can help identify young people with cybersecurity and problem-solving abilities, but the next step must be to develop their skills and connect them to opportunities.

He said the process should involve discovering talent, developing it, validating skills, connecting participants to opportunities and tracking their progress afterwards.

The Deputy Minister also called for closer collaboration between employers and education providers to identify emerging roles, understand skills shortages and give young people exposure to real workplace demands.

He said digital skills could lead to careers in cybersecurity, software engineering, data analytics, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital financial services, e-commerce and other technology-related fields.

However, he stressed that young people needed practical competence, professional discipline, communication skills, teamwork and continuous learning to compete for global opportunities.

Dr. Apaak called for technology exposure to begin during the school years, with learners introduced to coding, computational thinking, digital safety, responsible use of artificial intelligence, robotics, data and entrepreneurship.

He also highlighted the need for career guidance to help young people understand technology-related professions that may be less familiar to them.

The Deputy Minister further urged stakeholders to ensure that girls and young women were included in digital-skills initiatives through mentorship, access to devices, safe learning environments and industry opportunities.

BRCTF 2026 was held at Kobi’s Event Centre in East Legon, Accra, bringing together young innovators and other stakeholders around the link between education, digital skills and global employment.

Dr. Apaak said Ghana needed to prepare young people not only to use technology but also to build it, secure it, develop businesses around it and compete confidently in the global economy.