25 students complete ‘Girls in Data’ program conducted by Dhiraagu, Women in Tech

Twenty five students have completed ‘Girls in Data’ program, a data literacy initiative targeted towards girls which is conducted collaboratively by Dhiraagu and Women in Tech.

The program was conducted online, spanning for one and a half months starting from May 28. Participants were taught how to collect data, process and interpret it and derive conclusions based on the results of the analysis of data collected under the program. They visited the Maldives National Library and completed practical data collection activities as well.

Twenty five girls between the ages of 10 and 13 completed the program and presented their projects created with the skills learned from the program. Participants described the program as a platform that had shown that the data science field can open amazing opportunities for girls and the skills they learned in the program can be applied to pursue careers in the field.

The closing ceremony of the program was held on Saturday evening. Speaking at the program. Dhiraagu’s Corporate Social Responsibility Manager Bishaara Hameed said that one of the key objectives of the ‘Girls in Data’ program is to instill confidence amongst children, especially girls, to explore the field at a young age.

“In an increasingly data intensive world, data science and data analytics will be an important skill set regardless of the career path. Introducing children, especially girls to this data literacy programme and instilling their confidence to explore the field at a young age was one of the key objectives of Girls in Data,” she had said.

Also speaking at the closing ceremony, Women in Tech’s Vice President Mariyam Asan said that she hoped that the program provided opportunity for participants to learn new things and hope it has sparked their interest in the field of data science. She also urged the students to move forward in this field with the help of the information and lessons learned in the program.

This program is the introductory program of the ‘Girls in Data’ series – which is joint initiative of Dhiraagu md Women in Tech. They detailed that more programs in the series are planned to be conducted in different parts across the country.

Since 2019, Dhiraagu and Women in Tech have been conducting an annual program called ‘Girls to Code’ to teach girls coding. Three separate programs in the Girls to Code series have been carried out across different parts of Maldives.