The International Girls in ICT Day started with a lot activities. The students from various secondary schools and primary schools together with their female teachers came to attend the event at the College of Computer Science & Information technology (CCSIT) lab, at the University of Juba.
The day was opened by speeches from the Dean of CCSIT who then welcomed the guest of honor, Engineer Teresa Cirisio Iro, the Deputy Chairperson Board of Directors National Communication Authority. She shared her experience as the first female South Sudanese Electrical engineer and she encouraged the girls to follow their dreams in pursuing science based careers.
Next the Undersecretary Ministry of Telecommunication and postal services, Engineer Mark Mayoal, who is also the first South Sudanese Engineer gave words of encouragement to the girls.
There was a panel discussion on “Expanding Horizons, changing Attitudes of Girls in ICT.” The topic was discussed from four perspectives;
• GOGIRLS-ICT Initiative, presented by Yayi Eva one of the initiators of this Initiative. She discussed how participation and performance of girls at CCSIT was very poor. There were few or no girls in some classes like a fifth year computer science class where there are only boys. The girls had low self-esteem and it was very difficult for them to participate or consult the lecturers in case they failed to understand anything taught in class; but with the GOGIRLS-ICT Initiative, these girls became more confident some of them even started making phone calls to lecturers in case they wanted to inquire about a topic they had not understood in class, they sometimes personally approached lecturers to see how they could engage more in extra trainings outside class. They were able to mobilize students from primary and secondary schools to come and attend the International girls in ICT Day celebrations; and they actively engaged in various activities like presentations and teaching the primary school girls about the basics of using computers. This initiative had made them more confident and more interested in ICT related fields. By the 28th of April 2016, more girls wanted to join the Initiative.
• UNESCO, represented by Awol Endris, Head of the Department of Education. He discussed about UNESCO’s engagement in Education and use of ICTs for training. He mentioned possibilities of working together with GOGIRLS-ICT Initiative to encourage girls to engage more in Education especially in ICT related fields. He shared his experience with ICTs like computers in the past that they were not common as they are today and therefore students of today are lucky to have access; so should take the opportunity to learn how to use them.
• UNICEF, represented by Meling Christine, a teacher from the department of education. She discussed about UNICEF’s involvement in education and how girls were encouraged to stay in school; although the use of ICTs as a teaching aid was still minimal but they were working with the government to see how they would incorporate ICTs in learning.
• UNWOMEN, represented by Tabu R Jimmy. He discussed about UNWOMEN’s engagement in teaching youths, especially the internally displaced persons, computer skills. That they have computer centers around south Sudan in IDP camps with more focus on training girls.
The other session was a hands-on session with various sessions running in parallel like;
• Understanding the internal hardware components of a desktop computer;
• Learning how to use simple text editing software like Microsoft word for primary and secondary school students;
• Mobile android apps with emphasis on showcasing the “HomeWork” app designed by the GOGIRLS team and presented by Yine Yenki Head of Department Computer science and Initiator GOGIRLS-ICT Initiative. HomeWork is an app designed to help students in primary schools to do their class assignments at home. It provides a platform for them to ask for assistance on various topics, anyone could post an answer. The app is aimed at helping parents to be part of the learning process of their children; they post these questions together with their children, so there is supervision from an adult as the students use the smartphones and search for answers to their assignments. The students had a lot of fun testing the app.
• There was also a session about display of legacy technologies like fax machines and landline telephones, this sessions was mostly enjoyed by university girls, lecturers and primary and secondary school teachers. Engineer Simon Philip Ali, the deputy Director for switching & Numbering plan demonstrated to the participants how to use these technologies; in addition, he gave a talk on how international calls were being routed through illegal sim boxes to make them look like local calls, and a lot of other topics on the numbering systems for telecommunication companies and may more.
The day was fun filled and the girls requested for more of such celebrations; because they claimed the time was not enough they needed to learn more things in the field of ICT.
We hope to do more the next celebration, but for now we shall have more workshops and trainings related to IT for the girls to learn more, build more confidence, and gain more knowledge in ICT.