— at Rashid Minhas Shaheed Government School

Members of the Women Engineers Pakistan (WEP Sindh) gathered past Saturday, January 24th, 2015 to mark the beginning of their mission “Science for Progress” aiming to promote female education and professional growth of the women of Pakistan.

The first session held at the Rashid Minhas Shaheed Government School, located in the suburbs of Nazimabad Block 1, Karachi. Like most government schools, it was void of the perks of maintenance and security. However, the entire staff was vigilant and punctual. The session started at 8:30 am and continued for an hour and half. The WEP team had made all the necessary preparations for the session and a simple and easy to grasp presentation was in line for the girls. The presentation focused mainly on introducing Engineering to the girls, who seemed to have little or no idea about it prior to the session. When first asked, “How many of you want to become engineers?,” the girls were hesitant and hardly 5-6 rose their hands. The presentation comprised the basics of engineering, its branches, applications and living examples of women excelling in the fields of sciences and technology. The girls responded very well; clapping, laughing and answering questions with commendable confidence.

The presentation was followed by a brief question-answer session and then a quiz, the winners of which were given prizes by the team. The girls answered them all right and the result was a draw between the two teams. Their response to the quiz was absolutely amazing! At the end, they were again asked if and what they will be studying in the future and truth be told, the presentation had obviously left them motivated and better educated! If not engineering, they at least were now willing to do something for the country and themselves.