International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated each year in April to underscore the critical need for strong female role models in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. The objective of Girls in ICT Day is to bridge the barriers girls face in STEM education and to reinforce gender equalities by providing digital skills and tools to girls.

Objectives

Over the years, MDPA in collaboration with our parent Ministry, has marked this day through:

• Presentations in State Secondary Schools and Career Talk during Infotech
• Girls often do not opt for Computer Science subjects at secondary level as a result of wrongly perceived misconceptions and stereotypes on the future career paths for ICT graduates. To dispel these misconceptions, In 2019, MDPA showcased various facets of ICT, both in terms of tertiary studies and ICT careers, through video interviews of role models of students enrolled at universities as well as 8 Women IT Role Models, actively pursuing rewarding careers
• In 2022, MDPA organised 4 Boot Camps, where some 150 girls from  36 secondary schools of the 4 Educational Zones participated were introduced to block coding for programmable devices
• In 2023, MDPA organised a Video Competition for secondary girl students of Grades 11 and 12, on 3 IT themes namely, Cyberbullying, Bridging the Digital Divide between generations and Transitioning from Physical to Digital World. Forty teams, comprising a total of 145 students were retained for the Competition

Girls in ICT 2024

Bootcamps 2024

The MDPA organised phase 1 of 3D Design & Printing Boot Camps in 2 Educational Zones for the benefit of girls attending secondary schools to mark Girls in ICT Day 2024. This Girls in ICT Project was organized in collaboration of the Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology.

Objectives of the Bootcamps

The objectives of organising the Boot Camps are as follows:

• Initiate more Girls on the concept of 3D Printing Technology.
• Enable development of 3D designing skills which would benefit them later
• Inspire and encourage fabrication of useful objects in team, since a young age.
• Promote more girls in the STEM Education

Phase 1 of the Boot Camps was held in Zones 1 and 2 during the Easter Holidays for grade 12 students during school Easter holidays from the 15^th to 18^th April 2024.

Competition

In order to encourage more girls in the field of Technology the MDPA also organised a competition on Day 2 of the Boot Camp to reward the best team for the most innovative objects designed. The students had to design a 3D model based on a design assigned to them in a time frame of 2 hours. Winners of the competition will be announced at a later stage.1