Guyanese Girls Code – honing a tech savvy nation
[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0mbg0ypYnE?autoplay=1″ width=”560″ height=”315″]
DPI, Guyana, Saturday, April 14, 2018
The Ministry of Public Telecommunications is taking a sustained approach to training more Guyanese girls and women in the area of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes addressing the audience.
These were the sentiments of Minister of Public Telecommunications, Cathy Hughes at the launch of ‘Guyanese Girls Code’ course at the Education Lecture Theatre (ELT), University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus.
Guyanese Girls Code is a free 12-week course designed to teach Guyanese girls between the ages of 11 to 14 or First to Third form students, the beginners coding/programming. The goal of this initiative is to address the gender disparity in Guyana’s ICT sector where women and girls remain underrepresented.
“Usually when you go into situations involving the use of computers and ICT, and I’m not complaining that we don’t love the boys, we love the boys, but we want to make sure the girls are equally there and that’s what this is all about,” Minister Hughes remarked.
More women and girls in the country’s burgeoning tech-industry mean the addition of more talented and innovative young people capable of transforming Guyana into a digitally-savvy society.
A section of today’s audience.
The Minister further added, “We at the Ministry of Public Telecommunications always knew that we had to make a change, that we had to train more of our Guyanese women to get into information technology so we came up with a plan to demonstrate to our female population… that ICT is not only meant for boys and girls. Women are exceeding and excelling and they are leading in many ways.”
The girls participating are from several schools around the country including The Bishops’ High School, St John’s College, Christ Church Secondary, Mackenzie High School and West Demerara Secondary School.
Minister Hughes enthused, “I am so excited because we’ve come this far but now finally we can give opportunities to girls to make sure that they can be in this important game.”
The course is being implemented by The Ministry of Public Telecommunications in collaboration with the National Center for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) and the University of Guyana.
To date, over 40 girls have signed up for the training.
Education Lecture Theatre.
By: Nateshia Isaacs