• Women overtake men in enrolment in science and mathematics courses in TVETs
• But men still dominate in general enrolment in STEM courses in universities and colleges
Image: FILE
Female students have for the first time overtaken their male counterparts in science courses after taking more slots in science fields in middle-level colleges.
Placement data shows more female students will this year pursue science and mathematics courses compared to males.
The women have broken the old gender disparity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses.
But men still dominate enrolment in STEM courses. Of the 37,369 students placed in the middle-level colleges, 20,379 are male and 16900 female.
In this year's placement, 58,851 students were enrolled under government sponsorship to pursue courses in technical and vocational institutions.
In mathematics 2,166 students are female and 1,372 are male, while in sciences 8,115 are female and 3,000 are male.
The science enrollments show that in every 10 students seven are female and three male.
However, there is a big disparity in favour of male students in engineering where 80 per cent of those enrolled are male and 20 per cent female.
Agriculture and technology related courses are even in enrollment, with only a slight difference of one per cent between the genders.
Universities
Women are yet to close the gender gap in universities where male students continue to dominate in STEM enrollment.
Even more alarming is the revelation that enrollment of girls in STEM dropped compared to last year.
This year, 89,486 students will be sponsored by the government to pursue their preferred degree programs out of whom 57,687 will proceed to STEM related courses, more than double the number admitted last year.
This means six in every 10 students enrolled at university this year will pursue science related courses.
Education CS George Magoha asked stakeholders to come up with interventions to bridge the gender gap.
Male students will account for 36,189 of all STEM placements while female students will get 21,498 places.
A breakdown of these statistics shows in every three students in a science class only one will be female.
A similar trend is evident in technology courses where in every 10 students only four will be female.
KUCCPS statistics paint an even grimmer picture in the engineering and technology courses, which are almost fully male dominated.
In engineering, 78 per cent of those enrolled are male leaving a lean 22 per cent for their female counterparts.
However, the gap narrows in sciences where 56 per cent of those enrolled are male compared to 44 per cent female.
Mathematics and agriculture also attracted more males.
Unesco gender and science programme specialist Alice Ochanda explains that despite boys and girls sitting together in class, gender gap still remains big.
This has created a narrative that makes girls afraid to study the "big scary sciences".