As Govt Sec Sch Wuse Zone 3 emerges overall winner

By Gabriel Ewepu – Abuja

An award-winning and leading pan-African group, Tongston Entrepreneurship Holdings and Skills Outside School Foundation, have awarded one year scholarships to 3 outstanding government secondary school girls in science, free career and business mentorship and free entrepreneurial education training to 30 teachers across the 3 competing schools – Government Secondary School (GSS) Wuse Zone 3, Government Secondary School (GSS) Apo Resettlement and Government Secondary School (GSS) Wuye.

This was contained in a statement jointly signed by the Assistant Manager, Tongston Media, Fatima Aliu and Media & Communications Officer, Skills Outside School Foundation, Benny Atsua.

According to the statement, in commemoration of this year’s International Day of Girls and Women in Science on February 11, 2022, in Abuja, as declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, the competition organized by Tongston and SOSF was to promote full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, and further achieve gender equity and the empowerment of women and girls.

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Meanwhile, the competition organised for the three competing secondary schools was hosted on KAFTAN TV in a game show style, with three senior secondary girls representatives from each school; Eze Blessing Chika, Eze Favour and Paul Pretty representing GSS Wuye, Mohammed Maryam Kudu, Nachamana Evelyn and Salihu Aisha Bala representing GSS Wuse Zone 3, and Momoh  Onozasi Sherifat, Chikezie Miriam Oluebube and Mohammed Iko-ojo Laila representing GSS Apo, and all from the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, had intriguing presentations.

The organizers in the statement expressed astonishment with the display of talent and in-depth research of their works as the young girls expressed themselves with amazing potentials as they presented innovative and engaging projects from a plethora of categories.

Each group was encouraged to prepare an entrepreneurial product/service that falls within one of the common branches of science. It was important to the organizers that the students apply their academic understanding of these subjects to practical creation of entrepreneurial projects.

The statement reads in part, “To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful, and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”- Hillary Clinton.

“A significant gender gap has persisted throughout the years at all levels of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines all over the world. Even though women have made tremendous progress towards increasing their participation in higher education, they are still under-represented in these fields.

“Science and gender equity are both vital for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“Over the past decades, the global community has made a lot of effort in inspiring and engaging women and girls in science. Yet women and girls continue to be excluded from participating fully in science.

“In order to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, and further achieve gender equity and the empowerment of women and girls, the United Nations General Assembly declared 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science in 2015.

“This year marks the seventh observance of the Day. While vital roles are being played by relevant stakeholders all over the world to ensure that the place of women and girls in science is being preserved, recognized and appreciated for what it truly is and deserves, this year specifically came with an exciting approach deployed by two leading organizations in entrepreneurship and development space respectively.

“In commemoration of this year’s International Day of Girls and Women in Science, the Tongston Entrepreneurship Holdings (Tongston) which is an award-winning leading pan-African group with a focus on entrepreneurial thinking through finance, media, business and education to achieve sustainable socio-economic development in Africa teamed up with Skills Outside School Foundation (SOSF), a leading African education, employability and entrepreneurship organization with a vision for a productive human capital driving transformational socio-economic development globally through its three core pillars which are interventions, data and advocacy over the last 7 years to organize a competition for Senior Secondary School Girls in Abuja on February 11, 2022 which took place on Kaftan TV, Abuja and was covered also by Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) showcasing the incredible work the teachers and schools are doing to inspire other schools while shaping the future of their amazing students.

The statement also noted that the students applied their academic understanding of “the subjects to develop their ideas holds credit to the long history and partnership that Skills Outside School Foundation has with the schools through deployment of a number of programs in the schools.

“With their projects ranging from the Use of Wood Ash Filtrate in Making Local Preservatives to Tyre Recycling to the development of A Solar-Powered Automobile, it is safe to conclude that the relevance of science and technology in the world cannot be overstated, particularly, the inevitable contribution of women and girls in the sector.”

Meanwhile, the two judges, the Chief Executive Officer of Skills Outside School Foundation, Maureen Chukwuemeka, representing Skills Outside School Foundation, and Tongston Entrepreneurship Holdings’ Board Member, Kenneth Nwaichi, representing Tongstong Entrepreneurship Holdings, the represented schools took to the stage pitching their innovative ideas for the fair prize set aside by the two organizing teams.

According to the statement, “After a competitive round of presentations, a decision was made by the judges which announced Government Secondary School Wuse Zone 3 as winner, followed by Government Secondary School Apo Resettlement as the first runner up and Government Secondary School  Wuye as second runner up. Among several prizes won by participating schools, the one full academic scholarship session awarded to all three students who represented the winning school is particularly worthy of note.

However, all the participating schools received fantastic prizes including free Tongston Introductory Entrepreneurial Education Course (TIEEC) which is an introductory course that provides a unique opportunity to develop the key competencies required to embark on the journey to become an Entrepreneurial Educator and the need for Entrepreneurial Education for personal, cultural, socio-economic and sustainable development.

The course explores concept of education, the entrepreneurial mindset and the key competencies required of an entrepreneurial educator. Other prizes won by participating schools included free 60 minutes entrepreneurial career and business advisory session with the CEO of Tongston Entrepreneurship Holdings and Board Chair, Skills Outside School Foundation, free branded t-shirts, free branded school bags and certificates for students, teachers and the schools among other items which were presented by Tongston’s CEO, Engr. Bello Tongo and SOSF Board Chair, Mrs. Halima Ibrahim Abba.

“With the success of the International Day of Women & Girls in Science Competition, it is safe to say that the uniqueness of the projects presented by these young girls provided everyone in attendance with educational knowledge, even those unfamiliar with the science sector.

“The project is one of many deliberate steps taken by the organizing bodies to empower women and girls through education, entrepreneurship and employability skills as they grow to become change makers and leaders of their societies”, it added.

Vanguard News Nigeria