"Girls Should pursue career in ICT" says FG

Federal Government has begun collaboration with Huawei, an information and communication technology solutions provider, to train 1,000 girls in ICT.

The measure is to empower female pupils with basic ICT skills with a view to improving their employment chances.

The initiative, tagged “Huawei 1,000 MCT/Girls ICT Training programme,” is the brainchild of the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology.

The Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, represented by the Technical Assistant (Research), in the ministry, Olufunke Baruwa, made this known at the inauguration of the ICT Club of the Pyramid of Excellence Schools in Abuja.

Johnson said the programme would help to reduce the imbalance in ICT adoption between men and women in the country.

She added, “The ICT sector is emerging as the fastest growing sector in Nigeria, recording a 30 per cent year- on-year growth with the potential to significantly
contribute to increasing the social welfare of men and women in the future.

“Towards this end, the Federal Government is committed to changing the perception of young people to ICT and encouraging positive interest and engagement in their academics as well as to pursue future careers in ICT.”

The minister explained that the government, in its determination to encourage Nigerian pupils to develop an early interest in ICT, established the ICT club.

According to her, the initiative is an early intervention project to demystify ICTs and project technology as a viable career option that can empower and impact positively on the future of our youngsters.

She further stressed, “The aim of the club is to remove the barriers that discourage students from embracing ICTs through quizzes, ICT games, application
development, animation, website development, blogging, graphics design, computer programming, assembling and dissembling computers and creating short films.

Periodically mentors will be invited to give inspiring talks and participate in various ICT related activities that will interest the students.”

The minister said her ministry being a key partner in the Growing Women and Girls Initiative was empowering women and girls through specific technology initiatives.

Johnson said, “To help overcome digital divide in Nigeria, the Ministry of l Communication Technology has committed itself to setting up various projects such as The SmartWoman Nigeria Project, MCT/Huawei 1000
ICT Girls Training, and The Digital Girls Club.

“Among these projects, the Digital Girls Club which is an extra-curriculum activity has been designed for secondary schools girls across the country.

This curriculum enables the girls to focus on hands-on and practical learning thereby providing opportunities for
practical knowledge.

It also encourages girls to work in teams to build and create technology thus providing learning in a fun and engaging way.”

She explained that the SmartWoman Project of the government was a mobile service conceived to support the advancement, development and education of women via the ICT platforms.

She added, “This disparity in adoption of ICT by women and girls globally reveal a big gulf between women and men in the adoption of ICTs that needs to be bridged.

It is our hope that the effective implementation of these initiatives in schools across the country will go a long way in removing the barriers that discourage girls from embracing careers in ICTs.”

According to Johnson, her ministry will ensure that the Nigerian child has greater chances and opportunities in the ICT sector because of the immense contributions it can bring to their lives.

Courtesy: www.punchng.com

GTB Lagos State Principals Cup Commence

OVER 20 secondary schools and their officials on 28 of January at the corporate headquarters of GTB Bank Victoria Island Lagos, where draws for the final phase of the sixth edition of the Lagos State Principals Cup washeld.

The championship, which is billed to kick off 2nd of February 2015, saw the competing 24 secondary schools boys’ teams drawn into three groups, with t

he opening game in Group A featuring Ogunmodede College Epe against Dr. Lucas Memorial College, Kirikiri.

Other matches will see Ikorodu Senior
Grammar School battling King Ado High School Lagos in Group B, just as Sango Senior High School would contend with Agidingbi Senior Grammar School.

Three teams would qualify in each of the
groups after the first stage, which is on round robin basis.

In the girls category, which features 18 teams, CMS Senior School, Bariga, will battle Epe Girls High School in Group A, Methodist Girls High School, Yaba, will face Alakoto Senior High School Agege in Group B.

Researches shows girls lead boys in academicachievement globally

CONSIDERABLE attention has been paid to how
boys’ educational achievements in science and
math compare to girls’ accomplishments in
those areas, often leading to the assumption
that boys outperform girls in these areas.
Now, using international data, researchers
at the University of Missouri, United States, and
the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland,
have determined that girls outperform boys in
educational achievement in 70 per cent of the
countries they studied regardless of the level of
gender, political, economic or social equality.

Curators Professor of Psychological
Sciences in the College of Arts and Science at
MU, David Geary, said: “We studied the
educational achievement levels of 1.5 million
15-year-olds from around the world using data
collected between 2000 and 2010,” “Even in
countries where women’s liberties are severely
restricted, we found that girls are outperforming
boys in reading, mathematics, and science
literacy by age 15, regardless of political,
economic, social or gender equality issues and
policies found in those countries.”

According to the data, boys fall behind girls
in overall achievement across reading,
mathematics, and science in 70 percent of the
countries studied. Boys outperform girls in only
three countries or regions: Colombia, Costa Rica
and the Indian state, Himachal Pradesh. Boys
and girls had similar educational achievements
in the United States and United Kingdom.
In countries known for relatively low gender
equality ratings, such as Qatar, Jordan and the
United Arab Emirates, the educational
achievement gap is relatively large and favours
girls.

The one exception worldwide is among
students in economically developed nations
where high achieving boys outperform high
achieving girls, researchers said.
“With the exception of high-achievers, boys
have poorer educational outcomes than girls
around the world, independent of social equality
indicators,” said Gijsbert Stoet, reader in
psychology at the University of Glasgow.

“Results show that a commitment to gender
equality on its own is not enough to close the
achievement gaps in global education; the gap
is not increasing. Although it is vital that we
promote gender equality in schools, we also
need to make sure that we’re doing more to
understand why these gaps, especially among
boys, persist and what other policies we can
develop to close them.”

The study also has important implications for
educational policy, the researchers said.
“The data will influence how policymakers
think about the options available,” said Geary.

“For example, to increase levels of equal
opportunities in education. We believe that
policymakers and educators should not expect
that broad progress in social equality will
necessarily result in educational equality. In
fact, we found that with the exception of high
achievers, boys have poorer educational
outcomes than girls around the world,
independent of social equality indicators.

Therefore, in order to effectively close the gaps
in achievement, education policymakers should
consider factors other than political, economic
and social equality, and especially as related to
boys’ overall achievement and high-achieving
girls’ interest in mathematics and science.”

Cool Facts in History

Do you Know that:

Writing in ancient Greece hadnospacebetweenthewords

Women who use their appearance as a basis for
self-worth tend to post more photos of themselves online

The more stressed you are, the slower your wounds & illnesses heal

There is a Greek god named Priapus
..He has an enormous permanent boner.

Happy people prefer to have deeper conversations

Being racist can b detrimental to your health

U can write "property" using the top row of keyboard

Most smart students don't help the struggling ones

Phasmophobia, the fear of ghosts

Men find it easier to approach a women for a sexual encounter if she has a tattoo

2/3 of humans have no idea what they're good at or what their strengths are

Kanye West has more grammys than The Beatles, The Black Eyed Peas & Daft Punk combined

What u wear has an effect on how u behave

A group of barracudas is called a battery
& A group of giraffes, a tower.

Cyclists go 70s faster if they have shaved legs

Smiling is 69% more attractive than wearing makeup

Gossiping helps lower stress

A group of pandas is called an "embarrassment"
& A group of flies, a "business"

There's a volcano in Indonesia, it spews blue lava

Girls beat boys in educational achievement in 70% of the world

It's easier to remember things with your eyes closed.

More facts here