Young Tanzanian girls shine at top science fair

Their faces beamed with pride as they stood next to the Vice-President Garib Bilal after they were declared winners of the Young Scientists contest.

Dhariha Amour Ali and Salma Khalfan Omar from Lumumba Secondary School, Zanzibar had succeeded on a very hostile territory.

They had beaten thousands countrywide in this competition  with a simple but innovative scientific research.

In that alone, they had defied the odds that girls are intimidated by sciences.

Running under the ‘Using Science and Technology to Transform Tanzania’ theme, the two-day intensive skills competition contest featured thousands of students countrywide.

Focus and professionalism took centre stage as students showcased their projects to the general public and other students who came to learn from them.

They had the opportunity to innovate and demonstrate things that they were never taught in class, to most, these were projects that they had researched and developed on their own.

At the end Dhahira and Salma both A –level students from Zanzibar were declared winners for their work titled ‘Changing Attitude to control flies in Tanzania’.

Their project was categorised under the Social & Behavioural Sciences category.  Though it was a simple idea, it was their devotion and love for science that saw them walk away with a trophy, cash and ticket to attend the Young Scientist exhibition in Ireland in 2015.

Dhahira, whose passion is to be a pharmacist expressed belief that gender shouldn’t be a limiting factor because girls can excel in areas that are traditionally male territory.  “Girls should love science, it’s interesting and with some effort we can do wonders and go places,” she says.

Their project was born out of a realisation that most households in Tanzania use insecticides that contain a lot of chemicals to get rid of house flies.

“That’s why we came with our own idea of making something that is chemical free, but at the same effective  in chasing away flies.”

Dhahira gives an example of Pemba where cloves are a dominant crop, therefore, they realised that if they made a pesticide with cloves it would make it easy to control flies.

However, their main setback has been the community’s mindset which is holding back such innovations

But even as brilliant as their ideas were, the competition was so stiff given the kind of ideas that other students had come up with.

 “We saw a lot of great ideas, from other students who were enthusiastic with their projects too, but all we did was to stay positive,” says Dhahira.

At that point they didn’t care whether they won or lost because according to them they had done a great job already.

With effective mentoring, participating schools were linked with appropriate mentors from academia, teacher training colleges, universities and other third level institutions, NGOs and the private sector.

Martin Methew, a teacher from Kibondo Secondary School in Kigoma said it was a great and exciting exhibition that gave students an opportunity to learn from fellow students.

He says that despite the fact that most schools don’t have friendly learning environments especially for science subjects, still a lot of efforts have been made.

“For instance in schools where there are no laboratories, they have been introduced to mobile labs, it’s a good beginning but more efforts are still required,” he said.

Commenting on this year’s exhibition, he said students have shown a lot of creativity, saying there are a lot of things which are practical and students have shown what most people are not aware of.

However, he cautions that for students to have ambition to study certain fields, the future of such career must be respected so as to motivate the young generation.

“If doctors are not valued, it demoralises young people to think of investing their time and knowledge in such careers which are not valued by society,” he says.

Joseph Clowry, the co-founder of Young Scientist Tanzania, was awarded for his initiative and contribution .

 “I am happy to see how this exhibition has grown and continues to flourish. It has allowed thousands of young people to make a positive contribution to their lives through their involvement in this annual event,” he said.

He adds that 50 years ago Ireland and Tanzania were at almost a similar level of development and he sees that it is only through science and technology that the current dependency trend can end.

And to him all girls need is the opportunity to showcase their abilities in areas that affect them directly.

 “All they need is that platform and it is what we have been doing at Young Scientist, we are very much concerned with gender, even today we were very balanced in that regard.”

He adds: Our approach to science was to engage students directly. For instance we asked them to identify the kind of problem that exists in their area, and simple ideas that could solve those problems. This has been a supportive system; we mentored and exposed them to how the scientific world works.

But as Dhahira and Salma walked away with their award, the 2012 and 2013 winners too had something to smile about after they were awarded scholarships to pursue their higher education in science by the Karimjee Jivanjee Foundation.

British Gas’ country head, Adam Price, said they have been working close with the government in a number of social investments and the area which they are most proud of is education.

“We are happy to be a part of these initiatives that motivate students with the opportunity to participate in scientific learning experiences away from classroom and explore the unlimited potential of science,” says Adam Price.

He adds that they have been doing it at primary level, vocational training centres where they have offered scholarships for students to go to the United Kingdom. British Gas has been one of the main sponsors of young scientist exhibitions including the Irish Embassy. Irish Ambassador to Tanzania Gilsenan Fionnuala, commended teachers for their efforts in preparing and monitoring their students since they understand that they need to go beyond the curriculum and exams.  “Understanding science is important and people get to enjoy the benefits of science even without going to class or laboratory. We understand that farmers use science when choosing to make their decision for instance on the type of seeds to use.”

Over the years science has seen plenty of advancements in medicine, transport and communication. This is just a development of determination, patience and experimentation over many years. The Minister for Communication, Science and Technology Prof Makame Mbarawa, said as the economy of Tanzania grows, there is a need to support young people to develop scientific skills.

According to him there are numerous challenges that face the community, but students have shown their ability in solving them.

“In Zanzibar there is a problem with flies, but I have seen here students have come up with a great solution by using cloves.”

He adds that two years ago they didn’t see such innovations and from what he has seen there is every indication that Tanzania is heading towards the right direction.  Young Scientist Tanzania in the last four years has provided opportunities for young people to test theories and come up with solutions for practical problems.

Through this exhibition young people show great talents in certain issues such as agriculture, technology, environment, human rights and climate change.