Job shadowing brings girls closer to engineering
AN increasing worry that South Africa is not preparing an adequate number of experts in science, technology, engineering and mathematic has led Transnet Engineering (TE) to give 300 girls an opportunity to shadow mentors in the field.
In partnership with the Department for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, the Department of Education, UNICEF and Uweso Consulting for the ‘Techno Girl Programme’, TE hopes to provide opportunities for South Durban pupils. 300 girls participating in the Techno Girl Programme were selected to be enrolled in TE’s project, 50 of which in Durban. They are enrolled in long term, structured and systematic ‘job-shadowing’, by being placed in the TE factory for three consecutive holidays over a three-year period.
TE hopes to support young girls to be future successful leaders of South Africa. “For young girls especially, the situation is particularly challenging with less than a third of girls taking maths and science in their secondary school years. This has major implications later in their lives, as they have fewer career opportunities, and get relatively lower paying professions. Research indicates that redressing gender inequality in South Africa is an economic imperative,” said Durban communications officer, Amanda Khumalo.
Busisiwe Biyela, a grade 10 pupil from Umlazi Comprehensive Technical School said the “exposure to the real world of work” benefitted her, as learning theory in school often differs from doing things practically.
- Londiwe Mkhize connects a motor on a motor panel.
Last year the pupils learnt about to repair wagons and this year they learnt about electricity, frequencies, voltages, sign waves, different motors, among other. The girls involved said the opportunity made them the pride of their families and the envy of their peers.
“We see programme as a great contribution to the transformation of our society through exposing the future leaders of our society to the engineering field where there is a great shortage of women,” said Transnet School of Engineering local business manager, Maxwell Magcaba.
