An NGO, ‘Women Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC)’ said it had trained 30 girls on digital circuit technologies, coding, web design to bridge gender gap in the technology space.
Maryam Abdulsalam, the Programme Manager at W.TEC told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in an interview in Lagos.
She said that the girls were trained during the ‘She Creates’ camp organised for girls between ages 13 and 17, at Laureates College, Oshodi, Lagos.
Abdulsalam said that the girls were trained on building electronic circuits using circuit boards, jumper wires, LED bulbs, plastics, iron, resistors and other cheap materials that they could get in their surroundings.
She said that the girls were also taught tie and dye to explore some form of hand work and gain the ability to multi-task.
“With simple materials provided, the girls were able to build power banks, rechargeable lamps, keyboard light and led bulbs using plastic and cheap wires.
“The girls were asked to build these things to test their critical and problem-solving skills.
“Most of the girls were able to come up with different designs when they were told to apply their practical works to real life situations, “she said.
Abdulsalam added that the engineering world thrives on constant reinvention and women need to be a part of the driving force.
Abdulsalam said that the only way to make women to be part of that driving force was to start encouraging girls to pick interest in technology-related courses.
She said that most of the girls at the camp were not science students, ”but since the beginning of the training, a lot of them had picked interest.”
Abdulsalam said that apart from technology-related trainings, the NGO decided to add sex education into the two-week curriculum.
She said that most of the girls were in the puberty stage, ”so it was essential to teach them what to do when approached by the opposite sex.”
Abdulsalam said that they found out that most of the girls were not comfortable discussing about sex with their parents, noting, ”it was essential for them to have the appropriate person or body to teach them.”
She said that they engaged the girls in self defence classes to teach them how to defend themselves when involved in any sexual harassment incident.
” We also invited women in business to teach the girls how to make other streams of income, “Abdulsalam said.
Also speaking, Blessing Collins, a participant at the bootcamp, said that since the beginning of the programme, she had learnt coding, digital circuit technologies and how to use User interface(UI)and User Experience (UX) design to build apps.
“UI refers to the screens, buttons, icons and other visual elements that you interact with when using a website or other electronic device.
“UX refers to the entire interaction you have with a product, including how you feel about the interaction,” she said.
Collins said that through her experience in the camp, she could now create a quizz app using the UI and UX design.
She said : “It has really been an interesting experience for me because I have learnt a lot .”
Another participant, Joy Obi, said that before she came for the bootcamp she could not operate the computer.
She said that in a period of one week she had learnt how to create an app and also use the UI and UX design perfectly.
” We also learnt how to make keyboard light using carton, wires and led, I must say it has been fun participating in this bootcamp, ” Obi said.
NAN
