Girls introduced to technical drawing
Mechanical engineering students from UKZN have developed a way to solve girls' technical drawing short-comings before university.
LAST year Michaela Geytenbeek and Lindelwa Dlamini developed a programme called GirlCAD, which is aimed at introducing high school girls to technical drawing.
The mechanical engineering students from UKZN said it came to their attention that most girls’ high schools do not offer technical drawing(EDG) and as a result girls that enter into the engineering field find themselves at a disadvantage.
What brought it to our attention was in first year when were doing a drawing in class, all the boys would just go through it easily and get a hundred per cent. When you look around the class, all the girls would be puzzled.
“When we were in first year, there was a girl who sat behind me and play with her pen during the test. The guy next to her would take her drawing board when he was done with his and draw for her while she pretended to draw on his which was already done. They would swap back in time to submit,” said Geytenbeek.
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To solve the problem the girls developed a free course, GirlCAD which they run on Saturday mornings at the mechanical engineering building on UKZN’s Howard Campus-a non-profit initiative with little to no funding.
Lidelwa Dlamini said that boys easily go through drawing at university because they are exposed to technical drawing for five years in high school but girls never encounter anything like it before university.
“Most girls end up failing the module because it is something new to them. It is one of the hardest modules to fail but it still happens. I’m sitting here but I failed it when I was in first year but now I’m doing final year.
“Most girls fail that module and they give up on their dream of becoming engineers. That is why we are doing this, to get girls pass that stage,” said Dlamini.
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The two girls drafted a letter to the schools in the area.
“Because it was a new initiative, there was not a lot of support for it but Fatima took us up on it and so did Durban Girls’ High School. We had two sessions and we had about 30- girls in each session.
“This year we have sent the letters to all the schools again. We are hoping to gain a better reach but we rely on social media to market the initiative,” said Geytenbeek.
The girls heaped praise on UKZN Mechanical Engineering saying have been very supportive.
Our Lady of Fatima Convent School learner Iola Meyer from Mount Edgecombe who is part of the project said, “I did not even know that GirlCAD existed. My dad is an engineer but I was not really clued up about drawing but this has helped broaden my horizons.”
