By Dayo Adesulu

One of the objectives behind Christopher Kolade Foundation, CKF, camping female  secondary school students for one week, is to build their science skill. This has yielded quick results, as many of the students have developed game softwares within seven days on campus.

In its quest to develop   female students’ skills and chances in  Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics Music and Agriculture, CKF had invited  56 students in District 6, Lagos on camp at the Thames Valley International School, Ogun State for academic and leadership training.

At the end of the exercise, having seen the student’s exhibitions and listened to   their testimonies, Dr Christopher Kolade, the Founder of CKF said: “Part of our objectives for the Foundation on female students is fulfilled.

Explaining the choice of girls, Kolade said: “In our country, education of girls is looked upon as a waste of time.  We want to demonstrate the need for everyone to be educated. Since the girls are lagging behind, we decided to fill in the gap.

“This is just one exercise and I think, we have fulfilled our objective, but work is not finished yet. It is going to continue. We have chosen District 6, Lagos State for the maiden edition and we are going to continue.”

The SHE – Camp, a seven-day residential science camp for disadvantaged girls from public schools around Lagos, is part of an extended and robust science immersion program.

It is designed to stir participants’ curiosity and interest in exploring the world of science and technology, change the stereotypes around girls and science and equip participants with life-long skills in the realm of science and technology, while offering personal development, leadership and ethics education.

In addition to the seven-day residential camp, the  program offers participating girls follow up support through in-school science clubs and an informal support network.

CKF offers the SHE initiative at no cost to participating girls.Given the current state of education in the country and based on the shared belief that we Nigerians must provide solutions at all levels for our problems, we believe that this will be a good opportunity to highlight how individuals and private institutions are working together to solve the challenges in our education system.