Ghanaian participants in the global Mission ShakthiSAT programme are calling for increased investment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education after a 10-day satellite engineering and space science programme in India exposed just how much access still depends on money, devices and connections.
Who Gets Left Behind
Dr Diana Amoni Ntewusu, the Mission ShakthiSAT Ambassador for Ghana and a researcher at the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, said the experience showed the importance of exposing girls to practical STEM opportunities from an early age. She said sustained investment in STEM would give girls greater access to practical learning opportunities and prepare them for careers in emerging technologies.
That call came after the programme, which ran from August 22 to 31, 2026, brought together about 12,000 girls aged between 14 and 18 from 108 countries for practical training in satellite technology, engineering, innovation and space science. The initiative, organised by Space Kidz India, has been described as the world's first global all-girls lunar satellite mission. Big language. Real barriers.
Dr Ntewusu said inadequate funding had made it difficult to secure Ghana's participation in the programme, including identifying participants and providing the devices and internet data required for the online selection process. The problem did not end there. She said the challenge continued even after Winifred Abrokwah was selected, with a supporter eventually purchasing her ticket to India, while she secured funding for her own participation from various sources, including support from her institute.
What the Money Gap Looks Like
Ms Abrokwah, 18, is a Level 200 Biomedical Engineering student at the University of Ghana. She participated in the programme alongside Dr Ntewusu, who mentored her throughout the trip. For a system that likes to talk about future workforces, the basics still came down to who could pay, who could get data, and who could get on the plane.
Dr Ntewusu urged the government and the private sector to support programmes that exposed young people to the practical skills needed by industry and the future workforce. That’s the reform pitch: ask the same institutions that ration opportunity to loosen the gate a little. The article shows the gate is still there.
She also said the programme gave women leaders and coordinators from different countries a chance to network and exchange ideas on promoting girls and women in science, leadership and innovation. The gathering linked people across borders, but the access problem remained rooted at home, where funding shortages shaped who could even enter the selection process.
What the Participants Plan to Do
For Ms Abrokwah, the programme offered a chance to complement her independent study of space science with practical experience. She said the training exposed participants to satellite technology, engineering and other areas that would have been difficult to access in Ghana. According to her, the programme provided extensive knowledge within a short period, covering areas that could have taken much longer to learn through conventional classroom instruction.
She said she planned to share the knowledge she had gained with colleagues interested in space science and use the engineering kits provided during the programme to demonstrate how satellites were built. She also intends to introduce younger pupils at her mother's school to space science, saying the subject was not widely taught at the primary and secondary school levels in Ghana. That’s the kind of horizontal, practical transfer that actually moves knowledge around: one participant teaching others, one school reaching younger pupils, one set of kits becoming a tool instead of a trophy.
Ms Abrokwah encouraged other girls to take advantage of similar opportunities, describing space science as an exciting field with applications in areas including national development. The words are polished. The reality is rougher. The programme opened a door, but only after supporters, institutions and outside funding stitched together the chance to walk through it.
The whole setup lays out the hierarchy plainly. A global programme gathered 12,000 girls from 108 countries, but Ghana’s participation depended on devices, internet data, a supporter buying a ticket, and funding from various sources. The state and private sector are now being asked to fix what their own priorities have already narrowed. Meanwhile, the girls who got in are left to carry the knowledge outward themselves.