ABOUT 14,000 students in five regions are benefiting from a digital learning platform that enhances their skills on software development and computer science fields.
The Share in Africa (SHARE), a non-governmental organization responsible with supporting girl’s education to African girls in collaboration with Global Outreach Tanzania (GOT) whose purpose is to bring youth closer to the digital world and the software developers of the learning platform, have been working hand in hand to offer this remarkable opportunity to young girls in Tanzania.
The two organisations developed the platform called ‘Windows to Knowledge (W2K)’ benefiting students in 21 schools in the country’s regions of Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Dodoma, Kagera and Iringa.
W2K possess a variety of multimedia resources, such as videos, past papers, science practical simulations and notes which follow the Tanzania syllabus making it ideal for the students to interact and enjoy their learning experience, this platform not only equip girls with knowledge and basic computer literacy skills but also fosters confidence, creativity and critical thinking abilities enabling them to thrive in the digital world.
Out of the total number of beneficiaries, 7,023(50.43 per cent) are girls while 6,897 (49.59 percent) are boys.
“Our goal is to bring girls in our communities much closer to technology and build their mindsets and confidence to pursue their passions and dreams, In the beginning we noticed that our communities needed to be made aware of the differences and impact that a technological program could do and throughout our drive to change, we applaud our communities for taking a step ahead with us in unlocking incredible potential and drive innovation in ways that benefit everyone,” Ms Lizzy Macha, Project Coordinator at Global Outreach Tanzania, said.
In today’s rapidly evolving digital age, the demand for skilled professionals in the field of computer science and software development is skyrocketing.
However, there has been a noticeable gender gap in this sector with women being underrepresented.
To address this gender disparity and promote gender equality in this digital era, a myriad initiative is emerging to empower girls and provide them with equal opportunities to learn and excel in software development and computer science fields.
One way that has been found effective is the utilization of the software learning platform such as Windows to Knowledge (W2K).
A tracer study undertaken on the impact of using W2K at Hekima and Maria De Mattias girl’s secondary schools with a total of 819 students, has that revealed 81 per cent of the girls were able to testify that the platform has developed their computer basic skills and created a reading habit spirit on them.
The computer lab manager in charge of W2K in Maria De Mattias Secondary School, Mr John Manga admits that the existence of teacher’s commitment and the engagement of the software has engineered a dramatic change in the improvement of NECTA performance of the form 4 students from having division IV and III to students only passing with division I and II.
He also went on by expressing his sincere appreciation to SHARE, GOT and the school administration for adding W2K sessions into the school schedule giving students access of takin advantage of the ICT room and its resources.
