FIYO, MINEDUC empower girls and women in STEM education, calling more to join

By Elias Hakizimana.

Local organization ‘Fight Illiteracy Youth Organization’ (FIYO) and the Ministry of Education through Rwanda Education Board (REB) encourages more girls to join Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) subjects through competition.

On Friday, May 12, 2023, FIYO organized a school-based competition in Kigali bringing together 30 students from 15 schools from five districts whereby each school was represented by two students, a girl and a boy to showcase various skills in STEM subjects.

According to Moses Gahigi, Executive Director of FIYO, the competition aims at promoting STEM education in the country with a long-term goal to help youth create jobs for others rather than seeking them.

“We need to encourage children to understand that STEM subjects are the same as other fields, today we are focusing on MATHEMATICS as we celebrate the International Day of a woman in Mathematics, we are encouraging girls to embrace these subjects because there is still a gap in gender, we wish that the number of girls in STEM fields can be topped up and we need to break that fear,” Gahigi said.

The International Day of a woman in Mathematics has the theme: “Women Belong in Math, let us celebrate their achievements and inspirer future generations,”

Gahigi added that low number Maths sections can be an agent cause of low number of children (both girls and boys) who join STEM, calling parents to tell children about the importance of such scientific and technological subjects.

Andrew Kwizera, REB Official in charge of School Leadership said that the Ministry continues to promote STEM education through its sector strategic priorities (2018-2024). He said that there is a progress made so far.

“The participation of students in STEM subjects has increased drastically, the Ministry has done the best in fighting school dropouts and improving the quality of lessons with the labour market needs, the journey ahead is to continue mobilizing parents and students to embrace STEM subjects, efficient toolkits were distributed in schools and teachers were trained, we invest much efforts in promoting science and Mathematics by training both pre-service and in-school teachers,” Kwizera said, adding that the government has reduced school fees for students who perform in Science to 50 percent in order to empower them.

Jolyane Bérubé, Programme CLÉ Country Representative, the partner who helps FIYO implement the programme in Rwanda said that a student can perform well in other subjects when s/he is powerful in Mathematics.

“One of our priorities is promoting STEM for girls and women to empower them, Mathematics is the foundation of performance of other disciplines, being culinary, construction, we always need basic skills in Mathematics, even in Music and arts, they use Mathematics, and in all the corners of life, I think that we have to overcome the barriers created by the environment,” Jolyane said.

Kessy Mugabe, a student from G.S.Kicukiro in Senior 2, said that Mathematics require a critical thinking effort, comparing to other subjects such as languages and social sciences. She said that Mathematics is not difficult when students try to link it with daily normal life.

“Myself, when I try to relate with Mathematics, I put in much efforts to acquire such skills at all cost,” Mugabe said.

Philemon Nujuje, another student from G.S Kicukiro in senior 2 said that girls used to have low performance in Mathematics comparing to their boy’s counterparts. He explained that the status of Mathematics requires a student to keep an eye open to the teacher’s lesson without turning round. He added that some students especially those who began from public schools get challenge of modern language while interpreting Mathematics exercises as they studied Mathematics in Kinyarwanda.

Aline Dorimana, a lecturer at University of Rwanda’s College of Education and member of women in sciences Education Association (LAWISE) said that mathematics can complicate a child due to his/her education level. “But it becomes more easier when you help achid to compare Mathematics with the normal life,” she said.

The gender gap in STEM subjects remains a critical issue. Despite progress being made, the number of women making up the workforce in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) is still low according to research.

Strengthening and promoting STEM subjects is a top priority for the government of Rwanda as per the Education Sector Strategic Plan 2018/19 to 2023/24. The government’s aspiration to become a knowledge-based economy requires the development of scientific and technological skills across all levels of society, with a special focus on girls.

By the end of this strategic plan, it is expected that 61% of all upper secondary education graduates will be oriented to pursue STEM-related courses in High Education Institutes (HEIs).

theinspirerpublications@gmail.com

Follow us @theinspirerpubl