In partnership with UNICEF; Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities; the Department of Basic Education and the State Information Technology Agency, Techno Girl is giving young girls across South African high schools a head start to Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The aim of this programme is to give girls from Grade 9 to Grade 11 a chance to take part in job shadowing, mentorship and skills development in the public and private sectors. The learners usually come from disadvantaged communities.
“The job shadowing programme provides girls with first-hand, insider information into what their career of interest involves. It motivates girls to develop a personal action plan to study further to secure a job of interest,” said Wycliffe Otieno, the Chief of Education at UNICEF South Africa.
Siphokazi Dayimane from the Cape Flats was part of the Techno Girl programme in Grade 10 and has since gone on to make a success of herself. She started job shadowing at PetroSA in Mossel Bay, and then won a bursary to study a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Cape Town.
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