CAMFED invests in girls’ education
Arku Jasmine
Education
Since the launch of the Girls’ Science, Maths and Technology (SMAT) Camp programme in 2008, organised by the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED), 1,000 girls have participated in the annual programme, which aims at creating opportunities for girls to be exposed to the application of science in the real world.
The programme is also to erase the apprehensions and the fear from girls towards the study of Science and Mathematics. The sixth in the series took place at the Tema Senior High School campus in the Greater Accra Region, from August 30 to September 8, 2013, and brought together a total of 350 girls, comprising 110 girls from 56 junior high schools (JHSs) and 240 girls from 44 senior high schools (SHSs) mainly from rural communities in the three northern regions―the Northern, Upper East and Upper West― and the Central region of Ghana.
This year’s camp took place on the theme: Fostering girls’ leadership in Science, Maths and Technology through practical experience. CAMFED, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that supports girls’ education and the empowerment of young women, organises the programme with funding from Credit Suisse ―an integrated bank and one of the world’s leading financial services providers.
Activities for the 2013 SMAT Camp included visits to various science, maths and technology-related organisations and institutions such as the Ghana Maths Society (GMS), Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), rlg Communications Group, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Coca Cola Ghana Limited, Toyota Ghana, Silver Star Cinema and the Accra Shopping Mall. The girls also had the opportunity to meet with female role models working in the fields of science, maths and technology.
In addition, the girls participated in quizzes and debates, and undertook science exhibition projects with direct benefits to the girls’ academic studies while coaching, tutorials and guided evening studies were also organised for them.
Of the science exhibition projects presented at the SMAT Camp 2013, three were adjudged the best, with the project on generating electricity from lime by Kpandai SHS placing first.
This was followed in second place by the project on artificial incubators by Damongo SHS, with Tamale Business SHS placing third with the project which produced Acetylene gas.
According to Ms Celestine Sitsofe Dordoye who is presently a student of the University of Education, Winneba, and a Chaperone at the just-ended camp, she was a product of the first batch of the SMAT Camp in 2008, having been selected from Wulensi Senior High School, and has since been sponsored by CAMFED.
Another beneficiary of the SMAT Camp programme, Hawa Alhassan Tambo, then at Kanga Senior High School, described the just-ended camp as the best in the history of the SMAT Camp programme.
Ms Tambo, who was also a Chaperone at the 2013 Camp, was a participant in the second batch of the programme in 2009.
According to Ms Tambo, if she had participated in the camp prior to writing her West African School Certificate Examinations (WASCE) in 2010, she would have performed better than she did in the examinations. Presently, Ms Tambo, supported by CAMFED, is engaged in the tie-dye business.
In an address delivered at the opening of this year’s SMAT Camp, Mrs Dolores Dickson, Executive Director of CAMFED Ghana, was quoted to have said that “...Creating access to education for girls in the country and ensuring their progression gives us hope of a future in Ghana where females will no more be less educated than men, and females will be proportionately well-represented in various spheres of endeavours. That is the future when the male empire will be coming to an end, and the irony of male dominance in a country that has a higher female population will soon give way to the logic of majority carries the vote.”
Meanwhile, CAMFED, with support from UKAID, through the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and The Master Card Foundation, has extended its programme to 30 districts across the four regions and currently works with 721 schools in those districts.
By G.D Zaney/Daily Graphic/Ghana
The programme is also to erase the apprehensions and the fear from girls towards the study of Science and Mathematics. The sixth in the series took place at the Tema Senior High School campus in the Greater Accra Region, from August 30 to September 8, 2013, and brought together a total of 350 girls, comprising 110 girls from 56 junior high schools (JHSs) and 240 girls from 44 senior high schools (SHSs) mainly from rural communities in the three northern regions―the Northern, Upper East and Upper West― and the Central region of Ghana.
This year’s camp took place on the theme: Fostering girls’ leadership in Science, Maths and Technology through practical experience. CAMFED, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that supports girls’ education and the empowerment of young women, organises the programme with funding from Credit Suisse ―an integrated bank and one of the world’s leading financial services providers.
Activities for the 2013 SMAT Camp included visits to various science, maths and technology-related organisations and institutions such as the Ghana Maths Society (GMS), Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), rlg Communications Group, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Coca Cola Ghana Limited, Toyota Ghana, Silver Star Cinema and the Accra Shopping Mall. The girls also had the opportunity to meet with female role models working in the fields of science, maths and technology.
In addition, the girls participated in quizzes and debates, and undertook science exhibition projects with direct benefits to the girls’ academic studies while coaching, tutorials and guided evening studies were also organised for them.
Of the science exhibition projects presented at the SMAT Camp 2013, three were adjudged the best, with the project on generating electricity from lime by Kpandai SHS placing first.
This was followed in second place by the project on artificial incubators by Damongo SHS, with Tamale Business SHS placing third with the project which produced Acetylene gas.
According to Ms Celestine Sitsofe Dordoye who is presently a student of the University of Education, Winneba, and a Chaperone at the just-ended camp, she was a product of the first batch of the SMAT Camp in 2008, having been selected from Wulensi Senior High School, and has since been sponsored by CAMFED.
Another beneficiary of the SMAT Camp programme, Hawa Alhassan Tambo, then at Kanga Senior High School, described the just-ended camp as the best in the history of the SMAT Camp programme.
Ms Tambo, who was also a Chaperone at the 2013 Camp, was a participant in the second batch of the programme in 2009.
According to Ms Tambo, if she had participated in the camp prior to writing her West African School Certificate Examinations (WASCE) in 2010, she would have performed better than she did in the examinations. Presently, Ms Tambo, supported by CAMFED, is engaged in the tie-dye business.
In an address delivered at the opening of this year’s SMAT Camp, Mrs Dolores Dickson, Executive Director of CAMFED Ghana, was quoted to have said that “...Creating access to education for girls in the country and ensuring their progression gives us hope of a future in Ghana where females will no more be less educated than men, and females will be proportionately well-represented in various spheres of endeavours. That is the future when the male empire will be coming to an end, and the irony of male dominance in a country that has a higher female population will soon give way to the logic of majority carries the vote.”
Meanwhile, CAMFED, with support from UKAID, through the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and The Master Card Foundation, has extended its programme to 30 districts across the four regions and currently works with 721 schools in those districts.
By G.D Zaney/Daily Graphic/Ghana