Girls are using their school breaks to learn what used to be thought as masculine subjects such as coding and robotics. These girls are a part of a learning club called Generation Girl (GenG), which aims to introduce science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in a fun and interactive way.

A group of girls were seen fixated on their laptops, typing code and numbers fluently into software to make a website on Thursday.

“Coding is hard, but it is a never-ending process depending on how far you want to go,” said Ilma Ranjani Wijaya, 17, a participant who studies at Labschool Kebayoran, South Jakarta.

Ilma has been accepted to the University of Indonesia’s School of Medicine but is using her school break to learn about STEM. She said that being in the club was a fun holiday activity.

The club offers programs specifically designed for school breaks. The six-week Summer Club program runs from June to July.

“I really like coding and seeing something come to life,” Ilma said referring to the robots she programmed to dance the week before.

Her parents initially did not understand her reason for joining the club. However, Ilma said that after seeing the website that she made, they began to understand the benefits.

She designed a website that features medical facts and hopes to upload study materials for medical students.

Each week, GenG holds four classes consisting of two different modules taught in Indonesian and English. Participants can register for more than one week if they wish to learn more than one subject.

Chrysteella Bachtiar Gunawan, one of the youngest participants, has registered for four classes.

“I have taken classes for web and app design [UI/UX], mobile applications, building a website and backend for beginners,” said the 12-year-old, adding that through the program, her interest in STEM had grown.

Meanwhile, Marsha Widyatmodjo, 16, said she also gained inspiration to try different things in the future.

“I had no interest in STEM,” Marsha said. “But now I want to be a tech entrepreneur to help a lot of people,” she became inspired by Crystal Widjaja, senior vice president of business intelligence for ride-hailing app Go-Jek, when she gave a talk to the girls.

Each Thursday, different female speakers give talks to the participants. While on Friday, the participants present their final projects.

Nadine Siregar, founder of GenG, said the organization aimed to shape women leaders, aside from introducing them to STEM. Her inspiration came from her own experience of noticing a lack of female role models in her own field of engineering.

“We need to make it more normal to see women leaders in STEM,” she said during an interview at WeWork co-working space in Karet, Central Jakarta, the club’s meeting point.

In Indonesia, only 30.7 percent of researchers in STEM fields are women according to a report by UNESCO.

Meanwhile, according to online research and news outlet Katadata in 2018, only two out of 10 women who graduated from STEM courses pursued a career in the field.

Nadine and a group of women working in tech initiated GenG in June 2018. It started as a personal project to start a summer program for female high school students.

The organization’s pilot project, the Winter Club, which was held in November to December last year, attracted 30 participants. Meanwhile, 150 girls aged 12 to 18 years old have registered for the free Summer Club program.

“We did not want price to be a hindrance,” Nadine said, adding that participants could borrow laptops subsidized by GenG sponsors.

The programs have received positive feedback and attracted participants from out of town, such as from Aceh and Semarang, Central Java. Therefore, GenG plans to establish branches in several regions later this year. (eyc)

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