Peace Corps Nigeria Alumni Foundation (PCNAF) and Inclusive Community Education and Development Association (ICEADA)’s joint scholarship and mentoring programme for girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), is aimed at bridging the wide disparity in terms of number of girls studying STEM subjects and courses at the level of secondary school and tertiary institutions. ADAM ALQALI reports
Twenty year old Firdausi Hussaini is visibly excited, having just received a cash support for her university education courtesy of Inclusive Community Education and Development Association (ICEADA’s) scholarship program for girls studying Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
A level-100 student the department of science and technical education majoring in mathematics and biology at Bayero University, Kano, in northwestern Nigeria, Firdausi has been awarded the ICEADA scholarship not only because of her financially disadvantaged background but also because of her outstanding academic performance.
“I am happy to be recognized for my efforts and the scholarship will encourage me to do more academically, and I have been inspired by the caliber of women I saw here some for whom are engineers, scientists, and professors in the field of science and technology,” says Firdausi who with a CGPA of 4.67 is at the top of her class, during an award ceremony.
Globally, there is a huge gap in terms of the percentage of women’s and girls’ studying Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses and pursuing carriers in the same fields. This is not unconnected with various types of societal stereotypes and perceptions that tend to view STEM subjects and carriers as being the exclusive preserve of the male gender.
Whereas as the phenomenon of gender disparity existing in Science, Technology and Engineering is a serious issue and wide even in the developed countries of Europe and North America, the gap is much wider in the developing world countries of Africa, Asia and South America.
Northern Nigeria does not only have a very huge gap in terms of women’s and girls’ participation in STEM rather it has one of the highest figures of out of schools girls in Africa.
Thus, Peace Corp Nigeria Alumni Foundation (PCNAF) and Inclusive Community Education and Development Association (ICEADA)’s joint scholarship and mentoring program for girls in STEM is aimed at bridging the wide disparity in girls’ studying STEM subjects and courses at the level of secondary school as well tertiary education in the states of Kano, Katsina, Niger, Nassarawa, Gombe and Bauchi.
The female undergraduate scholarship was created to help ease the financial burden of students with outstanding academic and leadership potentials but faces difficulties in coping with financial needs of their programmes of study. Therefore, the programme targets undergraduate students in their second year of study in any of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) degree courses in Bayero University Kano.
On the other hand, the PCNAF/ICEADA scholarship programme for secondary school students’ targets brilliant but financially disadvantaged girls enrolled in the final level of junior secondary school (grade 9), who are given scholarship to cover their tuition, books, uniforms and transport.
“There are a lot of barriers preventing girls from studying science, technology and engineering courses, part of it is the society’s view or stereotyping of certain subjects, courses and carriers as being the exclusive preserve of boys,” says Muhammad Bello Shitu, a professor of community development and innovation diffusion and the chairman of ICEADA.
“Through the scholarship program, we are trying to encourage disadvantaged girls in secondary schools and tertiary institutions to study and pursue carriers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The program is focused on girls who are academically sound but need financial support to be able to do better. We are also trying to raise awareness among individual community members, professional groups to begin to think outside the box by encouraging girls to study and pursue carriers in STEM.”
Shitu, who estimated the ratio of girls and women’ studying and pursuing carriers in STEM to men to be around 20:80 said the gender disparity was even wider in northern Nigeria due to “a lot of issues around delivery mechanism, home condition, community and environmental influences which combine to create a lot of barriers for girls to study and pursue carriers in science, technology and engineering.”
Rabi’a Sa’id, an associate professor in the department of physics at the Bayero University, Kano is the mentor of the girls under ICEADA’s STEM scholarship program. She said although women constitute not less than of half of the world’s population they rarely get the opportunity to make inputs to scientific and technological innovations.
“Statistics has shown that half of the world’s population is female yet they can’t make inputs to technological innovations that are specifically meant for their consumption, which leads to innovations that seek to address women’s challenges but fail to do so effectively because they were designed by men,” says Sa’id.
“Women must get involved in STEM to be able to contribute to policies and decisions on issues that affect them. It is women that know the needs of their fellow womenfolk therefore women should be involved in the design of technological innovations that are primarily meant for women including in the field of health and medical innovations. STEM is not exclusive to men.”
Hauwa Sadique is the president of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) who as a trained mechanical engineer was the only female student in her class and therefore faced many obstacles right from her university days including being asked, by her lecturer, if she missed her way when she entered her classroom for the first time at the University of Maiduguri in the early 1990s.
“(As women) we face a lot of challenges due to our society’s perception of women and what carriers we should go into. But if you really want to achieve something in life you need to be bold enough to challenge yourself and God willing you will make it,” says Shuwa.
Through this mentorship it is expected that there would be an increase in the number of girls in the targeted communities that would like to pursue undergraduate courses and carriers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The overarching goal therefore for the two programmes is increasing public awareness about the benefits of girls completing secondary school, and the global fight for education equality for girls; as well as building parental and community support for girls’ secondary education.
