NGO, Renal Ghana Foundation has lauded the champions of the just ended World ROBOFEST competition.

In a statement, Renel Ghana said the feat is proof “that girls like boys have potentials, which need to be tapped into for the greater good of society.”

They added that although Ghana has made a lot of progress in bridging the gender gap in terms of access, to opportunities in the sciences, “persistent inequalities exist in access, participation, and enrollment along socioeconomic, gender, and geographic lines.”

Renal Ghana wants more efforts to be put in place to attract the girl child to the sector.

Read the full statement below:

“Educating girls is a social development policy that works. It is a long-term investment that yields an exceptionally high return”- Kofi Annan. Today, we are witnesses of what empowering girls can do. We join the whole country to salute and give resounding congratulations to the young girls of Methodist Girls’ High School who won this year’s World ROBOFEST Competition held in Michigan (USA). This award goes a long way to show that girls like boys have potentials, which needs to be tapped into for the greater good of society. Indeed, there are no limitations for girls now and Science is not a prerogative for males.

Ghana has made tremendous progress in closing the gender gap between boys and girls with the introduction of gender-sensitive policies that seek to encourage more girls to access opportunities in the sciences. Yet still, persistent inequalities exist in access, participation, and enrollment along socioeconomic, gender, and geographic lines. Long-standing socio-cultural biases and gender stereotypes scare women and girls away from science-related fields. Research also shows that less than 30% of researchers worldwide are women and only around 30% of all female students select STEM-related fields in higher education (UNESCO data 2014-2016).

The International Day of Women and Girls in science has been adopted by the United Nations General Assembly to celebrate and achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls.  Girls in Ghana and all over the world are capable of venturing into science and compete equally with males.

In view of the widening skills and opportunity gaps in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for women and girls, heavy investment and efforts needs to be put in place to encourage more girls to take up careers in male-dominated fields.

Over the last two decades, Ghana has invested heavily in improving access to, and enhancing the quality of STEM education as part of efforts to achieving one of Ghana’s United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to increase the number of science students in the country’s technical institutions by a minimum of 60%. This shows that STEM education has been recognized as a key driver of opportunity in equipping learners with the knowledge, hands-on skills and dispositions to effect changes in our society.

This win is a call to collective action to provide the needed investments, infrastructure, logistics and conducive environment for girls and women to take up training in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Renel Ghana believes that protecting young girls from harmful cultural practices and investing in them is expedient for the development and sustenance of Ghana and the world at large. Achieving all the SDGs depends greatly on women empowerment.  Let us collaborate our efforts in our quest to empower girls and women so the impact will be substantial.

Congratulations to our girls again!

Renel Ghana