10-day girls boot camp underway in Mzuzu City

Ministry of Education has said Malawi is poised to transform its education system with a curriculum that emphasises knowledge, technology, and innovation.

The ministry’s director of science and innovation Chomora Mikeka said this on Wednesday in Mzuzu during the launch of a 10-day boot camp training of 50 adolescent girls and young women in Northern Region.

The camp is part of the ‘Malawi Girls Can Code Too’ project, spearheaded by United Nations Women and the government.

Mikeka said 2022 tracer study a ministry conducted on public and private university graduates revealed a significant imbalance in skill sets.

He said: “Out of nearly 18 000 screened graduates, only 2.5 percent specialise in science, technology and innovation, 8.8 percent possess advanced ICT skills and 30.1 percent are in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The remaining 58.6 percent are engaged in humanities, arts, and social sciences.”

Malawi Girls Can Code Northern Region programmes support consultant Alexander Maganga said the camp seeks to empower the participating girls, aged 18-25.

Mzuzu University head of the ICT department Ezekiel Namacha said the selected girls will also be trained in various areas of ICT innovation such as artificial intelligence, Internet of things (IoT), mobile application development, and website development.

With funding from the Irish Embassy, UN Women in collaboration with the ministries of Education and Gender, is implementing the four-year ‘Malawi Girls Can Code’ project.