SMA to Host High-School Students at ‘Girls in ICT Day’

The Spectrum Management Authority (SMA) will host approximately 40 girls from 14 high schools at their ‘Girls in ICT Day’ event, to be held at the Sagicor Auditorium in Kingston on April 26.

The event, which is a part of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) observation of the day, will be held under the theme ‘Expanding horizons, changing attitudes’.

Manager, Planning Department, at the SMA, Mahlangu Lawson, told JIS News that Girls in ICT Day is a global initiative to encourage girls and young women to consider studies and careers in information and communications technology (ICT).

Managing Director at the SMA, Maria Myers Hamilton, said that persons think of ICT as a male-dominated field, or think of it along the lines of call centres or business process outsourcing (BPO).

However, she highlights that there are many more careers within ICT, including engineering, e-scrubber or digital currency advisor.

“I find that in our communities, sometimes there is a sense of hopelessness among our young girls, not knowing what to choose or not having someone to have a conversation with about the possibilities, so this is an opportunity to empower the females,” Mrs. Myers Hamilton said.

The Managing Director said that the girls will interface with persons who have made it in technology.

She noted that the event will be opened by Member of Parliament for St. Andrew East Rural, the Most Hon. Juliet Holness, and will feature speakers such as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Hon. Alando Terrelonge; and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology, Hillary Alexander.

Other presenters will come from telecoms organisations, such as Digicel, Flow, AGC Drones and Microsoft.

The Managing Director said that the highlights will be activities undertaken by Microsoft as well as an interference signal hunt by the SMA at the Emancipation Park in New Kingston.

Girls in ICT Day is globally observed annually on the last Thursday in April since 2011, and in Jamaica since 2015.