The best teams of the 2024 Girls in ICT 3D Design and Printing Boot Camp competition were rewarded for their participation, creativity and innovative designs during an award ceremony held, today, at the Caudan Arts Centre in Port-Louis.
The winners as per the education zonal directorate are:
Royal College Port-Louis in Zone 1 - Port Louis and the North;
Manillal Doctor SSS in Zone 2 - Beau Bassin/ Rose Hill and the East;
Notre Dame College in Zone 3 - Curepipe and the South; and
Dr Maurice Curé College in Zone 4 - Vacoas/Phoenix and the West.
The 2024 Girls in ICT 3D Design and Printing Boot Camp competition is an initiative of the Mauritius Digital Promotion Agency (MDPA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology to initiate more girls on the concept of 3D printing technology, and promote more girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.
Some 130 girls participated in the competition which was organised in the context of the International Girls in ICT Day. The Day is celebrated worldwide on 25 April 2024 to underscore the critical need for strong female role models in STEM. The guiding objective of Girls in ICT Day is to bridge the barriers girls face in ICT education and to reduce gender inequalities by providing digital skills and tools to girls.
The Minister of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation, Mr Darsanand Balgobin; the Minister of Gender Equality and Family Welfare, Mrs Kalpana Devi Koonjoo-Shah; the Executive Director of the MDPA, Dr Suraj Juddoo; and other personalities were present at the award ceremony.
In his address, Mr Balgobin stated that the participation of girls in ICT education was making significant strides globally and in Mauritius. "Government," he highlighted, "is fostering the most conducive environment for technology to prosper and has, over the years, implemented several measures to bridge the gap of gender inequality in the sector." "According to Statistics Mauritius, the country has recorded nearly an equal number of men and women working in the ICT sector," he pointed out.
Minister Balgobin reiterated Government's engagement to continue to encourage women empowerment and equitable leadership development for STEM subjects. "The Ministry," he added, "is working on a five-year blue print to maintain a continuous dynamism and expansion of the ICT sector as well as to make it become competitive, and generate more wealth and employment."
He further remarked that digital technologies were essential pathway to gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls. He expressed confidence that by encouraging more women to enter the ICT industry, it would help in building a skilled workforce capable of driving innovation and smart production.
The ICT Minister lauded the participants for their outstanding performance in 3D works. He stressed the transformative potential of 3D printing technology and the need for the youth to harness this technology. "This emerging technology can play a pivotal role to provide solutions to complex problems in the future," he said. He appealed to young women to opt for ICT in their career path, to brave the challenges and to pave the way for others to join the sector.
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As for Minister Koonjoo-Shah, she emphasised the need to empower women in ICT. She indicated that nowadays girls were more exposed to technologies and should choose ICT as a core subject. She called on the young women to embark on the path of digitalisation, consider ICT related careers, and act as agents of change.
For his part, Dr Juddoo indicated that access to digital technologies was becoming an integral part of society and it was imperative to include girls in digital technologies and bridge the gap of gender disparity in ICT education for a more prosperous society.
