35 Beneficiaries Of Girls In Mathematical Sciences Program Of AIMS Ghana To Receive Scholarships From Government For Tertiary Education
The Deputy Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, has announced that the Government of Ghana would as part of efforts to promote STEM education, enroll the 35 AIMS Girls in Mathematical Sciences Program (GMSP) beneficiaries onto scholarships to enable them to pursue their tertiary education. He announced this at the closing ceremony of the GMSP organized by the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Ghana.
The event which took place on 19th November 2021 at AIMS Ghana Campus at East Legon Hills saw all 35 girls from 29 senior high schools across the country receive certificates of participation.
Launched in November 2020 by AIMS Ghana as part of the implementation of the UNESCO Category II Agreement with the Government of Ghana, the GMSP is an exciting and challenging 9-month program created for bright, curious, and creative female high school students to unlock their potential in the mathematical sciences. The goal of the program is to mentor beneficiaries to pursue STEM careers at the highest level in research, training, and industry. The program is also designed to create a special class of students who will lead cutting-edge research and innovation in the next few years.
there may be many people receiving education, if nothing changes by the year 2030, 825 million young people will reach adulthood without the skills, necessary to thrive in today’s changing world.”
Hon. Ntim Fordjour advised the 35 girls to look into the top 10 emerging jobs and declining jobs according to the World Economic Forum, to realize how important it is to build strong foundations in the Mathematical Sciences. He further stated that countries that had seen the best forms of development were those which had prioritized STEM and especially the Mathematical Sciences to provide solutions to their problems.
He further noted that, having allowed the program to go through them, he was certain that in the near future, the girls will be the women at the helm of creativity and innovative transformations that need to be seen in Ghana, on the African continent, and across the globe at large. “Coming this far, I am very confident that you will be changing the narrative and challenging the status quo. You will be an inspiration to many young girls and boys in our society and I look forward to the success stories that will come out of this program,” he said.
Dr. Prince Koree Osei, Centre President, AIMS Ghana, in his congratulatory message to the girls
in their STEM journey, reiterated that the girls were selected for their brilliance and excellence within their various senior high schools and different courses including Visual Arts, Business, General Arts and General Science. “With the exposure, AIMS has given them, they should be stimulated and supercharged to bring closer the aspirations of AIMS by becoming the next generation of Africa’s Einsteins”, he indicated.
Through the entire program, the girls were taken through online Masterclass sessions with top researchers/scientists who discussed cutting edge research in diverse fields. Residential sessions involved mini-courses such as Quantum Space-Time, Climate Change Science, Biostatistics, Stochastics as well as Quantum Information and Mathematical Problem Solving. Other activities included industrial visits to Ghana Tech Lab, and Ghana Atomic Energy Commissions (GAEC), fireside chats, universities/scholarships talk sessions with both Ghanaian and Foreign Universities among others. Each girl was also assigned a female mentor to help groom and guide them in making their career choices. These were all geared towards laying a foundation for a career in STEM.
Ms. Adelaide Asante, COO, AIMS Ghana, thanked the Government for funding the program. She commended the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), and the National Commission for UNESCO, for supporting the implementation of the GMSP and other programs at AIMS Ghana. She also thanked the 29 headteachers and focal persons from the high schools of the girls as well as their parents and guardians for the tremendous support during the period.
