USGHAA urges young girls to pursue STEM

The US- Ghana Alumni Association (USGHAA) urges young girls to choose careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to improve their chances on the job market. This was the key note of the USGHAA sponsored Girl Child Stem Project in Cape Coast.

The aim of the program was to encourage more girls to pursue STEM careers by gaining their interest early and facilitating their success. The programme also encouraged the girls not to be afraid of venturing into those fields because of the social construct that STEM was the reserve of males.

At a day’s training of about 50 girls in Duakor a suburb of Cape Coast Metropolis, Mrs Doris Osei Antwi, a Science and Biology Tutor at the Ghana National College said it was not easy for females to venture into the Science and Mathematics domain, stressing that she personally faced a lot of challenges when she was perusing Science but was able to make it through perseverance.

The programme is designed for two weeks and is expected to cover three additional schools namely; Abakam Cran Presby Basic School, St. Michael’s Basic School and St Mary’ Basic School. Other Members of the team are Mad. Cynthia Jebuni-Adanu (2nd Lead and Lecturer, UEW), Mad. Edith Edem Ackah (French Tutor, Ghana National College, , Mr. Patrick Ahudy ( Tutor, Adisadel College), Dr. Edward Kuntu Blankson (Country Director, W-ISE- Ghana) and Veronica Tampour- Kuupol( District Director Buipe)

The training is cover 80 teachers from the four schools and will equip these selected teachers with the knowledge on how to identify their learners learning skills to help teach them accordingly. They will also be trained on the practice of The Enquiry Method of Teaching and Student Centred Teaching Approaches.

Madam Cynthia in an interview added that, the training was to expose young girls to the diverse STEM options available in Ghana while helping them harness these potentials to promote the socio economic development of the country. She, therefore urged the young girls never to give up be it in their academic life because, perseverance is the difference between those who succeed and those who fails.

The girls were further empowered with valuable knowledge and information about their sexual reproductive health and how to protect themselves against gender-based violence. Mr. Thomas Clerkson Adonu, the STEM and Science Coordinator at the Metro Education Directorate lauded organisers of the training adding that it was very critical to the development of the country.

According to him, Africa continues to lack behind in STEM programmes, as compared to the rest of the world. Disclosing that, report has shown that despite the continent boasting of the world’s largest youthful population, less than 25% pursue STEM related career fields.

He reiterated that there was the need at this point to encourage and support more girls pursue STEM programmes to challenge men in opportunities related to STEM.

Mr Adonu urged the young ones to be ready to act with integrity and regard the code of ethics governing the profession they wanted to pursue in order to excel. He said they had realized that STEM courses were mostly participated by men and needed to bridge the gap and called on girls to identify their weaknesses and strive to overcome them.

Mr Justin Ekor, the Headmaster of Archbishop Amissah Memorial School in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on impact of social media said it was a double-edged sword that people could use to either gain or lose something valuable in life. He cautioned the students to be cautious with how they portrayed themselves on social media, saying it could be detrimental to their future careers if those images were negative and indecent.

USGHAA is an association that comprise all Alumni groups from all US sponsored exchange programmes in education. The association was established as a not- for profit organization under the laws of Ghana. US-GHAA is funded and supported by USA through the US Embassy in Ghana.

The Association presented donations of training and learning materials to all the schools to support effective teaching and learning in the country

Source: Newsonline.com