W.TEC bridges gaps between girls, technology acquisition

By Tomike Owotura

07 September 2022   |   3:55 am

A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Women Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), has trained 30 girls on digital circuit technologies, coding, web design to bridge the gender gap in the technology space.

  

The Programme Manager at W.TEC, Maryam Abdulsalam, in Lagos, 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 handwork and gain the ability to multitask.

  

“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 this thing 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 work to real-life situations,” she said.

   

According to her, 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 part of that driving force was to start encouraging girls to pick an 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 asides from technology-related training, the NGO decided to add sex education into the two weeks 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.

   

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 quiz app using the UI and UX design.