STEM Camp of Excellence for Girls and Teachers in Kenya
T
he Kenya National Commission for UNESCO (KNATCOM) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Regional Office of East Africa; United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); The TranSforming InSTitutions to Advance women leadeRS in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (SISTARS Project); Huawei Technologies; the Engineering Board of Kenya; Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS); and The Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA) successfully hosted a four day Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Boot Camp of Excellence. The camp, whose theme was “Unlocking the Potential of Girls in STEM for Secure & Sustainable Future for All“, converged close to 300 girls from 27 secondary schools drawn from informal areas of Nairobi County.
The Boot Camp was
officially opened by Dr. Elyas Abdi Jillaow, OGW, the Director General for Basic Education in the Ministry of Education (MoE), who represented the Principal Secretary, the State Department for Basic Education as the Chief Guest. In his speech, he noted that this is the 2nd phase of the KNATCOM-led STEM camp that has cumulatively mentored over 4,000 girls in all 47 Kenyan counties. He underscored the MoE efforts in facilitating schools to ensure that the students have adequate STEM learning infrastructure for a conducive environment for learning.
Dr. James Njogu, the Ag. Secretary General, KNATCOM, encouraged the participating girls to uptake the STEM subjects which are key for pursuing STEM career paths. He recognized the Camp of Excellence partners and underscored the important contribution that has made the December 2024 camp happen. He further reiterated KNATCOM’s commitment to promoting STEM as its one way of ensuring a sustainable future for all.
The four-day camp, which ran from 2nd to 5th December 2024, was hosted at Nairobi Primary School, Nairobi County. The STEM Camp was a platform for mentorship on STEM career choices; critical thinking; 21st Century Skills; into induction to robotics, mobile app development and 3D printing; among other lifelong skills. It is envisaged that the camp will inspire the girls to pursue STEM courses through mind shift change (demystify the notion STEM Courses are hard and a preserve for boys/men), mentorship, and peer-peer learning; ultimately increasing the number of female scientists nationally and globally.
The STEM Camp of Excellence ran concurrently with the training 27 teachers on Gender Transformative STEM Pedagogy and Digital Education. The training envisages enhancing the teachers’ understanding of the gender-responsive pedagogy concepts, planning lessons and modes of delivery, including real-world lesson planning, gender-sensitive teaching and learning materials, language use in the classroom, teaching approaches, classroom setup, and STEM learning infrastructure.
The Boot Camp culminated with a tree-planting exercise during which students, teachers, Partners, Mentors, and KNATCOM Secretariate led the Ag. Secretary General Dr. James Njogu planted over 650 trees within the Nairobi Primary School compound.
