The Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) training is a four-year partnership project between the Ghana Education Service and the Korea International Cooperation Agency. This project has a goal to sponsor girl Skills through involvement in STEM courses and to benefit and compete fairly with the boys. Approximately 1500 teenage girls from certain Junior High Schools in the Eastern and Central Regions have acquired several benefits from the recent Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) training. Around 1000 girls in the Central Region were from five wards: Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, Cape Coast, Gomoa East, Agona East, and Komenda-Edina-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem.
The Teenage girls from 400 schools commenced a seven-day camping trip to learn experimental and practical lessons in STEM. These lessons will prepare them to choose science-related subjects in their senior classes. The camp was based on the theme “Promotion of Girls’ Competence in Mathematics and Science with Gender Responsive Pedagogy.”
According to Mrs. Olivia Serwaa Opare, the director in charge of the National STEM resources center of GES, the introduction of STEM in Ghana is timely due to the evolution of the world around technology.
She insisted it is important to equip the young generation with the newest trends, especially in the 21st century. The STEM project aims at educating young people, particularly young girls, to offer opportunities in most STEM-related areas. Mrs. Olivia Serwaa Opare noted that this project aims to empower women to participate in STEM courses and offer better opportunities for many teenage girls in Science and math subjects.
“STEM seeks to promote a more effective pedagogy in Maths and Science that would strengthen the education system and provide a gilt-friendly school environment towards the social-cultural factors creating a negative perception towards girls’ education, especially in STEM. The project was leaving no stone unturned; therefore, more teachers have been trained and empowered to provide the young girls with practical aspects of the Maths and Science to support in that regard,” noted the director.
The project’s positive results may take time to manifest, but everyone is optimistic that STEM will positively impact the Ghanaian Education sector. Mrs. Olivia Serwaa Opare requested all teenage girls to always be attentive, devoted, humble, and persistent in whatever they do so they can easily climb the academic ladder.
During the last day of the Camp, several girls from various districts were given a chance to give feedback about the seven-day camp. Most of the girls noted that the camp was educative; besides, their confidence was boosted, and they could take up leadership roles and other challenging courses that they initially thought were only for boys. One of the teenage girls requested the government to offer more Science and Math programs to the most interior local schools so they won’t leave any girls out. She also appealed to the government to construct a digital Science Laboratory to help them easily undertake experimental and practical subjects.
The Project Officer and Information Communication Technology Coordinator of the STEM project, Mr. Abankwa Anokyi, insisted that the ministry has distributed Science and Maths logistics and materials to all the chosen schools. According to Mr. Kwasi Abankwa Anokyi, the distribution of these products will improve access to STEM resources in schools and quickly gauge the project’s impact. Besides, the STEM project has also offered free Sanitary towels to all the young girls involved in this project to ensure that the pupils remain focused and committed to the goals and help stem achieve the agenda of improving STEM in the education sector. The STEM program will rely on quizzes to assess the impact of the learning period of the training and camping.
