Interesting more young girls in choosing fields in science, technology, engineering and the arts is one of the objectives of the STIMA2023 initiative led by the Gabtrotter association.

Also, Pascal Ango and his team took advantage of their visit to Port-Gentil where training for STIMA trainers is being organized to visit reception structures for young girls.

At the Michel-Emmanuel school group, Elisha Dorcas, an expert in rural education in Nigeria, spoke with young girls from a 6th grade class about their dreams for the future. If today many young people want to become doctors, midwives or lawyers, it is also because many of them are unaware that over the past ten or twenty years, new professions have appeared, particularly in the fields covered by STIMAs. This is why, the speaker suggests, to the question “What do you want to do when you grow up?” ", we must now substitute two questions: "What are the problems that you observe in the environment in which you live? and “What can you do to solve these problems?” ". The answers to these two questions then open up a field of possibilities from which we make the child aware of the need to direct his future in the search for solutions to the problems of his community. Then, gradually, we will lead him to realize that the tools to solve the problems in question are found in his immediate environment and that he just needs to reach out to appropriate them. Finally, with practical exercises, we will show him how to use the elements of his environment and find solutions to the problems identified. This educational approach, called “learning through problem solving”, is more productive and will develop new reflexes in learners aimed at stimulating creativity, inventiveness, a sense of teamwork, etc., with the aim of to impact the society in which they live.

Put into practice at the Imya library, the young girls, using everyday materials (paper, scissors, glue, tape, etc.), were able to engage in numerous fun exercises highlighting scientific properties. The objective sought here is to convince the young girl that scientific fields are not the exclusive domain of men but that girls must also take them without complexes and with equal chances of success. The message got across well.

Fidèle AFANOU EDEMBE

Port-Gentil/Gabon