Some of the students taking a test
MORE THAN 1300 students participated in Tullow Ghana’s Mobile STEM Clinics this year in preparation for their annual Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Previous years recorded over 1600 participants, bringing the total beneficiaries of the programme close to 3000 participants in its 4-year implementation period.
Deputy Managing Director for Tullow Ghana, Cynthia Lumor, commenting on this, said “At Tullow, we recognise that STEM education is an important building block for the socio-economic development of our host communities. 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. We believe that this will bridge the resource gap and spur beneficiaries onto higher heights.”
The Mobile STEM Clinic is funded by Tullow Ghana Limited under its ‘Educate to Innovate with STEM’ project, which is implemented by the Youth Bridge Foundation.
Since its inception in 2018, the impact of this flagship project has been massive across the seven coastal districts of Ellembelle, Jomoro, Effia Kwesimintsim, 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 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 Senior High Schools and tertiary institutions.
In 2016, a study commissioned by Tullow Ghana indicated skills gaps in youth employability due to low education progression rate in the Western Region of Ghana. Following the study, Tullow Ghana partnered with Youth Bridge Foundation, a youth-focused non-governmental organisation, and the Ghana Education Service to initiate a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project targeted at Junior and Senior High Schools within the seven (7) coastal districts where Tullow operates. This led to the birth of the ‘Mobile STEM Clinics’ in 2018.
The clinics have been very instrumental in preparing final-year Junior High School (JHS) students from the beneficiary communities for their BECE, with a keen focus on Mathematics and Integrated Science.
The 7-day clinic also allows experts from the Ghana Education Service to provide best practices and critical insights into the examination for the benefit of the candidates.
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