Monrovia – Comparable to its West African counterparts, Liberia educational system lurks behind specifically in the Science, Technology Engineer, and Mathematics (STEM), thus there’s the need to raise the required awareness to increase adolescent student’s interests.
And so the Liberians Encouraging Students in Science and Technology (LESSAT), a non for profit group has endeavored to ensure that a huge chunk of Liberian adolescent school girls choose science and technology as a career path.
On Saturday, March 31, 2018, the group organized a daylong conference for young school girls at the ‘I Campus’ in Monrovia.
In order to achieve its mandate, Executive Director Doris Myers said the conference was to inspire young ladies to take up careers in the discipline of science, technology and innovation by eliminating the gender gap in education and skill-development and helping them discover the opportunities that
“Since the inception of the civil war, our country has suffered a serious setback relating to manpower that contributes to the country infrastructural development drive. So I taught getting girls involved with the sciences will help bridge the gap, she averred.
In the face of crippling systemic difficulties in the educational sector, Doris believes awareness and programs that encourage students into the sciences will aid Liberia’s development drive.
“We want young girls to take up careers in technology and help solve the many problems in Liberia. We intend to raise students that will be passionate about science, technology and innovation. “
“Most women shy away from the sciences. And so there is a huge gap in that area. We are here to tell young girls that they are genetically build like their male counterparts to study science and technology, she said.
For Liberian young girls to become aircraft engineer and scientists, she said it will start with an interest in the sciences. So we want girls to be internally motivated and to build interest in science and technology.
Report by Edward Blamo, FPA Contributor