A singular effort by the lead operator of the Jubilee and TEN oil fields, Tullow Ghana, to encourage the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) among the youth in the Western Region, has led to complete transformation at the junior and senior high schools in the region.
Within its four-year implementation, about 3,000 participants have benefited, and the study of STEM subjects has been made attractive to students, mostly from the coastal communities.
In 2016, the company led STEM education in fishing communities after its study, which indicated skills gaps in youth employability due to the low education progression rate in the region.
Following the study, Tullow Ghana, as part of its contribution, partnered Youth Bridge Foundation, a youth-focused non-governmental organisation, and the Ghana Education Service to initiate a STEM project.
The impact of the project, according to the Deputy Managing Director for Tullow Ghana, Cynthia Lumor, was that the company recognised that STEM education remained an important building block for the socio-economic development of its host communities.
STEM-related initiatives
“That is why we invest in several STEM-related initiatives including the Mobile STEM Clinic to give young Ghanaians access to practical science sessions, to ensure that no one is left behind in accessing quality STEM education,” she said.
Ms Lumor said Tullow Ghana believed that the STEM initiative would bridge the resource gap and spur beneficiaries onto higher heights, through a solid foundation with the support of the project.
The project targeted junior and senior high schools within the seven coastal municipal, metropolitan and district assemblies (MMDAs) where Tullow operates, and led to the birth of the ‘Mobile STEM Clinics’ in 2018.
The Mobile STEM Clinics, the Ghana Education Service said, had since inception been a game-changer for students in the fishing communities with limited access to educational infrastructure and equipment.
Mobile STEM Clinic
The Mobile STEM Clinic, funded by Tullow Ghana, was under its ‘Educate to Innovate with STEM’ project, which is implemented by the Youth Bridge Foundation.
The Public Relations Officer of the Regional Ghana Education Service, Betty Etroo, said the STEM programme had contributed significantly towards the sciences and ensured a solid foundation for the children.
She said the clinics provided access to science equipment and laboratory experiments that were needed for understanding the theoretical concepts taught in schools, which hitherto was not at their respective schools.
Laboratory setup
The clinic, with laboratory setup, is carried in vans and stationed in locations that are accessible to the students. During the clinic, facilitators give students the opportunity to be able to undertake laboratory experiments with science and maths equipment and to ask questions based on their experience.
The Regional STEM Coordinator, Kwaku Tuffour Frimpong, said clinics had been very instrumental in preparing final-year junior high school (JHS) students from the beneficiary communities for their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), with a keen focus on mathematics and integrated science.
The seven-day clinic, he said, also allowed experts from the GES to provide best practices and critical insights into the examination for the benefit of the candidates.
“One interesting thing is that there are some misconceptions about the study of mathematics and other science-related subjects but through these STEM clinic engagements, these subjects have been demystified to make it easy for students to embrace and that has helped a lot,” he said.
A striking feature of the clinic, Mr Frimpong said, was the ‘Peer-to-Peer Mentorship’ Module, which enabled past beneficiaries of the project to share their personal experiences from STEM education and consequently help to boost the confidence of prospective BECE candidates.
The impact
Since its inception in 2018, the impact of this flagship project has been massive across the seven coastal districts of Ellembelle, Jomoro, Effia Kwesimintim, Sekondi-Takoradi, Nzema East, Shama and Ahanta West.
Education progression has improved as the project has led to many beneficiaries enrolling in tertiary institutions, the first batch of which are currently in their final year in these institutions.
This impact has also been manifested through beneficiaries who have become STEM ambassadors, projecting the gains of the programme in SHSs and tertiary institutions. This year, more than 1,300 students participated in the Mobile STEM Clinics in preparation for their annual BECE.
Previous years recorded over 1,600 participants, bringing the total beneficiaries of the programme close to 3,000 in its four-year implementation period.
