Tepa (Ash), Sept. 17, GNA - Mr Julius Oddoye, Ahafo Ano North District Director of Education, has urged parents to encourage their daughters to participate in science and mathematics courses. It is only through their participation in these courses, he said, that girls will discard the notion that science and mathematics were for only boys.

Mr Oddoye was speaking at the close of a two-week Science, Technology and Mathematics (STME) clinic at Tepa. The 200 participants were selected from Basic and Second Cycle schools in the Ahafo Ano North, Ahafo Ano South, Atwima Nwabiagya and Atwima Mponua districts of Ashanti. Mr Oddoye was not happy with the situation where girls kept away from science and said their continued exposure to such clinics will give them the confidence to offer the subject. Nana Eric Agyemang Prempeh, the District Chief Executive, underscored the importance of science and technology education in nation building and said it was for this reason that the government was committed to the success of the STME clinics. He advised the students against indulging in early sex saying it could give them sexually transmitted diseases, especially AIDS and asked them to abstain completely from sex until they were ripe enough.