Odyssey Educational Foundation, a non governmental organisation, has trained 115 secondary school girls on mobile applications development and tech enterpreneurship in Kano State.
The exercise was being implemented by the Foundation with support of the United States Embassy, Abuja.
The Country Director of the Foundation, Mrs Stella Dennis stated this at the end of the training exercise on Saturday in Kano.
According to her, the mentoring and empowerment programne focused at using technology to solve problems in their neighbourhoods, adding it was also to groom the girls for participation in Technovation, an international challenge for girls.
She said the empowerment of the girl-child in technology would also build self esteem to enable them to use technology to make a difference in the world.
The country director said the programme was providing intervention to equip underprivileged girls, especially those in public schools with 21st century technological skills.
“We target five public and one private schools because we realised that children from remote and under-served communities are mostly found there,” she said.
Earlier, Vivian Okoli, Tech Coordinator of the Kano Center, said the organisation was committed towards the promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and application among young people, especially the girls.
Okoli, who lauded female students for showcasing their mobile software applications, said the winners would proceed to the semi final stages of the global competition with competitors from other countries in an online platform.
Also, Hajiya Hauwa Sheriff, Deputy Director, Junior Secondary Schools, Kano State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) commended the foundation and the US embassy for their efforts in promoting STEM education.
She said the programme would close up the gender imbalance for female in technology, adding that the board welcomes more collaboration to mentor more girls.
Some of the participants, who spoke at the event, lauded the gesture and promised to step down the knowledge with their peers.
