Calabar, Nigeria – The Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) has called on Nigerian parents to break the kitchen stereotypes among their female children.
This was disclosed by Dr Adebisi Osim, President of APWEN, on Monday in Calabar during a one-day engagement with pupils of Duke Town and Edgerly Primary Schools.
The engagement, which was in commemoration of the “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” held annually on Feb. 22, saw the association train the children on the production of balloon toy cars to encourage them to choose engineering as they grow older.
Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Osim said they had to celebrate the day on Monday, Feb. 24, in a public school and not on its real date, which was a weekend, because they needed to have ample and quality time with the children.
The president, who is also a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), said it was important to let the society know that the girl child had a voice and could become whatever she wanted to become, including becoming an engineer.
“We came to Duke Town Primary School, which is a public and one of the oldest primary schools in Cross River, to let the young girls know that they can equally become engineers.
“We are quite aware of the challenges of public schools in the nation, which range from lack of facilities to poor career counselling; that is why we are here to actually catch them young, she said.
She said her past programmes had concentrated on girls in junior secondary schools where they encouraged them to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programmes.
She noted that it was interesting to state that while they taught the children practically how to make balloon cars, the children were so excited and went ahead to produce theirs, meaning there was hope for the girl child in engineering.
Some of the pupils who spoke to NAN said they were excited about the initiative, adding that they were going to put what they learnt during the engagement to practice in their various homes.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) state that Introduce a Girl to Science Day is an initiative aimed at inspiring young girls to explore careers in STEM. It
It encourages hands-on learning, mentorship, and exposure to female role models in a scientific field with the aim of breaking gender stereotypes, boosting confidence, and increasing female representation in STEM industries. (NAN)
