Five female students representing 10 city schools had the opportunity to tour several tech-intensive agencies and private companies as part of the Ministry of Public Telecommunications’ Girls in ICT Day observances.
Nearly 300 15 and 16-year-old girls attending Leonora Secondary and other schools in the West Coast Demerara catchment area received live messages via Skype from representatives of the United Nations and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) this morning.
Minister Cathy Hughes addressing an audience on Girls in ICT Day.
In the city, the female students who gathered at the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School came from Queen’s College, Brickdam Secondary, St. Joseph’s High, North Georgetown, Ascension, Cummings Lodge, Charlestown and Christ Church Secondary Schools. They came with their teachers and some parents/guardians and met with Minister of Public Telecommunications, Cathy Hughes, and an appreciable number of “Tech-Women” who work at the National Data Management Authority (NDMA).
In a rousing charge, Minister Hughes told the girls, “There are no limits to YOUR future. With technology advancing at such a high speed, you are now placed in the right positions to follow up what women before you have already started.” She gave this exhortation after telling them about a young Internet Marketing professional whom she had the pleasure of meeting. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet the Senior Marketing Strategist of Google, New York. At 20-something years old, she is so knowledgeable about the internet and Information Technology that she believes that there is NOTHING that ICT cannot do,” she said.
“There is another reality that we have to change,” she stated. “You might know a few girls who still believe that the field of Information Communication Technology (ICT) is just for boys and men. Well, Girls in ICT Day was designed to tell you that you are wrong! Don’t let the word TECHNOLOGY fool you, or keep you from taking charge of it,” she exhorted.
The students and their teachers and parents then toured the ICT departments of The Guyana Revenue Authority, GUYSUCO, Digicel and the NDMA/eGovernment Unit. They returned to North Ruimveldt Secondary and discussed the possibilities of ICT being a part of their futures based on what they observed.
International Girls in ICT Day is an initiative backed by the ITU. It is meant to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in the burgeoning field of diverse talents. International Girls in ICT Day is observed annually on the 4th Thursday in April.
All stakeholders including international bodies, Governments and local ICT industry leaders are encouraged to organize events aimed at empowering and encouraging girls and young women to pursue tertiary level studies in the vast field of ICTs. In Guyana, this year’s activities involved the Ministries of Education, Youth and Culture, Public Telecommunications, the University of Guyana and several public entities and private sector companies.