Karpowership Ghana has held a mentorship programme for students at the Sekondi College in the Western Region.

This is part of efforts to encourage Ghanaian youth to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The mentorship project dubbed Girl Power particularly targets female students who are in the first year of their senior high school education.

Speaking at the programme, Communications Manager at Karpowership Ghana Ms Sandra Amarquaye said the company is committed to helping create a great future for females to explore the world to the fullest.

“Mentoring and giving our young girls the needed skills and knowledge before they make their choices for the tertiary level is the way to go, and we at Karpowership are committed to ensuring that young girls receive the needed support and encouragement to go further in their careers,” she said.

Ms. Amarquaye urged the female students to see the mentorship programme as a stepping stone to great futures in science-related careers.

She said the company is committed to giving value to their stakeholders in every aspect of their operations, disclosing Karpowership has developed a scholarship scheme to cater for the needs of students in the STEM field.

“The engineering field is a male-dominated one. But we believe that women are just as capable as men working in this field and require just a little push because they have been conditioned to believe that it is difficult and should be left for the men. This is the motivation for rolling out this project,” she said.

Two seasoned STEM lecturers were present to share their experiences in research and career with the students.

They also exposed the students to various career opportunities in the STEM field and urged females in particular to be resolute even when they face challenges in their bids to pursue STEM careers.

Dr. Ohenewaa Kakra Dankwa – a petroleum engineer and lecturer at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) in Tarkwa, and Dr Jemimah Etornam Kassah – a lecturer at the Department of Biology Education at the University of Education in Winneba, urged girls to take up courses and careers in the sciences.

The Headmistress of Sekondi College, Guddy Kermah, thanked Karpowership for selecting Sekondi College as the first beneficiary of the GirlPower Project to empower girls in the sciences.

She advised that more of such progammes should be held for the students in order to help them take appropriate decisions in their career journey.