A non-governmental organization (NGO), Initiative for Peace and Women’s Right in Africa (IPWR) has sought for increased participation of girls in ICT to promote career opportunities in the world’s fastest growing economy and increased gender equality.
The founder, IPWR, Mrs Edidiong Idang, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday that encouraging young girls to delve into science-oriented courses would promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in line with global practices.
She said the organisation recently had a one-day capacity building programme for young girls between the ages of 10 and 15, tagged ‘ICT 101 for youngsters’ to equip and mentor them with relevant skills to enable them perform well in the technology industry.
She stressed the need for the government and other relevant authorities to ensure that teachers were well trained and equipped to impact knowledge, counsel and guide young girls on choice of subjects and career.
Idang said ICT knowledge would help students in their school projects, noting that the world has gone global and digital with everything which used to be done manually now going on in the digital space, adding girls must not be left to lag behind.
“Things have moved from analog to digital and the more we expose our young girls who are often times seen as people who don’t have flares, or the fact that the ICT world is male dominated but we want girls to know more because there is no limit of education a girl child should have,” she said.
The founder also emphasised on the need to dismiss the notion that science courses are tough for females, hence it is important to encourage more girls to participate in it.
“We want the girls to pick interest so that when they go back to school they will not shy away from subjects such as physics, chemistry, mathematics which involve calculation because ICT will teach the kids easier ways to solve things,” she added.
Idang, who is a trained self-discovery coach with specialty in young people especially women and girls, said the programme also provided a platform for young girls to discover their personality type and build a vision of their future using simple coaching techniques.
She emphasised the need for every young girl to have access to coaching programmes, saying “while education builds on knowledge, coaching builds on self as it allows the individual to assess him/herself, understand their personality and transform their lives above all odds.
“As a self discovery coach I have decided to use my skills to help the girls discover themselves and help the young girls build their vision,” she added.
She reiterated the commitment of the organisation towards promoting women in politics and empowerment, girl child education and mentoring girls. (NAN)
