SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATH (STEM): "Opening the Gates to the World"

Student nurses in Tamil Nadu- Delta School of NursingGLP provides poor communities in various countries with a means to prepare young people for careers that require strength in S.T.E.M, i.e., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. GLP transfers surplus teaching materials that enhance the learning of science, technology, engineering and math.  GLP’s S.T.E.M pilot in Kenya was initiated in partnership with the community-based organization PAMLO-Amagoro in1999. The achievements of GLP’s Kenya S.T.E.M pilot include securing S.T.E.M scholarships for poor students at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), and training those scholarship recipients to work in partnership with American students in volunteer work, and in mentoring primary and secondary school students. In 2006 these Kenyan university scholarship recipients organized a district-wide youth PAMLO conference on education, business, and life skills at St. Paul’s Secondary School, Amukura, Teso District, Kenya.

The success of the S.T.E.M Kenya pilot project is the basis of the current GLP push for S.T.E.M projects in poor communities in other countries that are beneficiaries of GLP efforts. GLP works in partnership with other organizations and with individuals to help create and/or equip science, technology and math learning centers, as well as laboratories, in order to prepare students in beneficiary communities for competence and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M)

In most GLP beneficiary communities, the major goal is to get kids excited about science, technology, and math, and to help their parents realize how important it is for their children to do well in the S.T.E.M subjects.

MoleculeMost economically poor communities suffer from a shortage of teachers that are well trained in science, technology, engineering and math. And the absence of appropriate teaching and learning materials worsens the situation. GLP helps by supplying up-to-date reference textbooks, science kits, computers, and training.

GLP also sends pre-trained American student volunteers to work with local stakeholders on ideas of incorporating American reference textbooks, science kits, and computers into local curricula in various countries.

Some GLP learning expeditions are specifically aimed at sending American volunteers to work on S.T.E.M projects in poor rural communities. The American volunteers work with university students from the host country, and with parents and teachers in setting up science laboratories, computer centers, and S.T.E.M learning centers.

Involving All Stakeholders
GLP also pushes to create space for parent and community participation in education.  Parents are supported to be intimately involved in school affairs, governance and curriculum.  This strategy seeks to place students at the heart of the education spotlight as well as to create an education that is relevant and forward looking.

 

 

GLP is interested in making sure that recipients put their books to immediate use.

  • Education is a key component of improving the life opportunities of young people, male and female, in developing countries. There is a particular need, however, for access to education in order that young womens' lives can become richer in opportunities.
  • The GLP strategy to achieve these goals is to motivate all beneficiaries through healthy competitions in mathematics, reading and spelling-all the while maintaining a proactive engagement to draw women into these areas.

Kolanya Girls Secondary School is one of our very first locations for the GLP Math/Science initiative. There has been a tremendous response from participants throughout the school

  • Each competition is annual. School pupils and their teachers prepare for the competition all year long. The finals become community events.

  • All the top 10 pupils receive T-shirts as prizes; the top winner receives a small scholarship from the local CBO.
Volunteer teachers and parents use a manual prepared by GLP to organize these competitions. GLP coordinates the prizes and training of parents and teachers.