Girls shoul strive to embrace vocational education, especially science, technology and mathematics (STEM)-related discipline as a way to make them self-reliant and major drivers for the country’s economy.

The call was made on Tuesday by Esperance Nyirasafari, the minister for gender and family promotion, at the closing ceremony of a two-week countrywide campaign that aimed at encouraging girls to join Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

Nyirasafari said girls are capable of taking on hands-on jobs, adding that lack of self-confidence was one of the key factor that have continued to discourage women from joining vocational fields.

She reflected on the available opportunities that the country has created to ensure women and girls are empowered, calling on females not to put them to waste but instead use them to develop themselves and the country.

The programme brought together more than 2000 young girls from across the country, including those taking TVET.

"The campaign has made a tremendous headway in the community. It helped people change their wrong perception that TVET is preserve for men and physically strong people. Currently, girls are demonstrating that they can perform any task,” she said.

Nyirasafari recognised the support of the Dutch government toward TVET and HeForShe campaign, calling on other development partners to intervene in empowering girls.

Olivier Rwamukwaya, the state minister in charge of TVET, said women empowerment in TVET will help close skills gap and increase youth employment.

Rwamukwaya said the huge gap for girls in vocational education compared to their brothers will only be closed if all involved stakeholders work together.

Statistics show that girls constitute 39.6 per cent of students in Vocational Training Centres (VTC), while STEM girls constitute only 17 per cent.

Frederique de Man, the Dutch Ambasador to Rwanda, said the impressive progress made in empowering women doesn’t allow Rwanda to rest on its laurels.

"I hope that during the campaign many girls, boys, parents, teachers and community members in general positively learnt much. Remember that Rwandan economy and labour market need you,” she told girls.

Fatou Aminata Lo, the UN Women country representative, said: "The country will never reach its sustainable development goals if girls are not given equal opportunities as boys from young age.”

She said engaging men in advancing women empowerment is noble, as no country can achieve sustainable development goals while ignoring its women and girls who often represent half or more of the population.

Aminata advised young girls to be the first to do what they could do and not to be discouraged.

"Remember that your dream can be achieved, strive for it to impact the world,” she said.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw