We need more girls in Computer Science classrooms... | Guilian Asongtia

Years back in secondary school, a new Additional Mathematics teacher was transferred to our school.

Oh boy—the man fine  Young, fresh out of school, and had the girls in our class signing up for Add Maths like never before.

We weren’t exactly in love with the subject... but some of us were definitely in love with sitting in that class.

Fast-forward years later—now I’m the teacher. I walk into a new classroom, introduce myself as the Computer Science (CSc) teacher…

...and just like that, almost all the girls left.

That moment hit me hard. It was such a contrast from what I saw years ago—and it raised a deep question in me:

Why are so many girls still avoiding Computer Science in high school?

I see girls who admire those who work in tech fields yet when given the chance to start learning computer science in school, they run away or choose ICT instead.

So I started asking myself:

 Is it the way we’re teaching the subject?

 Are we making it feel too abstract, too intimidating, too masculine?

 Are we showing them what they can look like in tech—not just what tech looks like?

That day reminded me that representation matters.

Relevance matters.

Confidence matters.

And most of all, how we teach matters.

I’m still on the journey of figuring it out—but I know this:

We need more girls in Computer Science classrooms and more teachers committed to keeping them there.

Let's talk:

As a student what made you love or avoid certain subjects in school?

• Guilian Asongtia | Open Dreams