Vice-Chancellor of the University of Swaziland for the past 15 years. Trained in Canada as a chemist where she obtained the MSc degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Alberta and the PhD degree in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Toronto.
Her main research areas over the years have been Traditional Medicine and the Chemistry of Medicinal and Indigenous Food Plants. She has recently been involved in the creation of the Swaziland Institute for Research in Traditional Medicine, Medicinal and Indigenous Food Plants at the University of Swaziland.
Another research area of interest to her is Women in Science and Higher Education in Africa. She is presently the President of the Third World Organization for Women in Science, a 2500-member organization of women scientists from over 100 Third World countries. She has also served as member of the Executive Board of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) which promotes the education of the girl child in Africa.
She is a Fellow of the Third World Academy of Science (TWAS) and the African Academy of Sciences (AAS). She is a recipient of several honorary degrees from some Commonwealth Universities and is currently a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO.
IMPROVING GIRLS’ EDUCATION IN SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS
The 21st century has arrived, silencing years of speculation on what its characteristics were going to be. It is definitely a century of science and technology, as a result of the rapid and unprecedented scientific and technological advances which was the hallmark of the 20th century. It is also a century of human rights, equity and justice, harmony with the environment and ethics of science, all contemporary issues which are serving to counterbalance the dominance of science and technology. What is of concern however is that the rapid social and economic changes induced by science and technology, have not provided time for some societies to pause and ponder their positive and negative effects. This lack of analysis is especially evident in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions of the world where science and technology have not taken firm roots. In these regions the tremendous scientific achievements which are being hailed as unprecedented in human history, have hardly captured the attention of a large proportion of society, in particular the illiterate, the majority of whom are girls and women.
If there is a success story to be told about post-independence development in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is about the progress achieved in education. At independence, all African countries recognized the value of education as a prerequisite of essential human resource production and invested heavily in this sector. The investment paid dividends as it was followed by phenomenal expansion, in particular, in enrolment at all levels of the education systems. However, in spite of this impressive rise in student numbers, African education has experienced serious challenges of quality, quantity and diversity at all levels, especially in the areas of science and mathematics. An important feature of science and mathematics education is the relatively poor female participation, which creates large disparities between male and female enrolment. These disparities lay the foundation for the gross under-representation of women as staff and students at scientific institutions and at the scientific leadership of countries. The disadvantaged circumstances of girls and women in science and mathematics education contribute to the shortfall in essential human resources needed for the scientific development of the continent of Africa. As a result Africa lags behind other regions of the world with respect to scientific and technical personnel.
There are several innovative interventions which have been mounted in terms of access, participation and performance especially in mathematics, science and technology. These will be recalled in the paper. Many of these interventions have demonstrated results that are now being discussed for mainstreaming at national level.