Ms Stephaine Asabea Opoku, Administrative Officer for the STEMinist Foundation Ghana, has called for a concerted effort to encourage more female students into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education.
Ms Opoku said the STEMinist Foundation was rolling out advocacy strategies to support and uplift women in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
She said the goal was to get more female students through advocacy, empowerment, counselling, and career advice in junior and senior high schools.
Ms Opoku stated this at a stakeholder engagement organized by the Ghana News Agency for state and non-state actors to contribute to national development.
According to her, female students who participate in STEM programmes are better prepared to pursue any field-related career in science and its linked industries.
Ms Opoku emphasised the significance of educating more women because, in general, they were underrepresented in the field.
For this reason, the STEMinist Foundation had scaled up advocacy for the empowerment of women to assume some roles so they could speak out, assist in problem-solving, and participate in decision-making.
The Foundation worked with women who represented energy, ecology, and climate change, she said.
She pointed out that the inclusion of STEM in the curriculum would help kids develop their imaginative and creative talents so they could pursue employment in the scientific fields.
She said although the number of women venturing into the field was on the rise, more needed to be done to encourage girls, right from their basic education, to see the field as one that could be studied by all.
Ms Opoku said the dynamics were changing where the focus of education had gone beyond only math and science concepts, saying that critical thinking, decision-making, curiosity, leadership, and problem-solving were some of the benefits STEM was bringing to children, making them challenge standards.
She stressed the need to capitalize on STEM to prepare the future generation, especially females, to become innovators and inventors.
Mr Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager, called on female journalists to serve as catalysts for STEM reportage and provide avenues for women in STEM to propagate their stories.
Mr Ameyibor stressed the need for media houses to create a conducive environment for STEM reportage by building the capacity of reporters to be able to report on STEM.
Source: Ghana News Agency