TWENTY schoolgirls and their teachers were given a tour of one of ScotRail Alliance’s train depot as part of International Women into Engineering Day 2017 aimed at encouraging more women into the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The pupils, from Bellahouston Academy in Glasgow, visited the Shields depot and met ScotRail Alliance’s engineering director, Angus Thom who gave them a talk about the maintenance, cleaning and refurbishment of electric trains.
The visit was part of ScotRail’s wider outreach programme aimed at attracting more female candidates to apply for jobs not only engineering but also the wider railway business.
The ScotRail Alliance’s director of human resources, John Gillies, said: “A train depot is a busy and hectic workplace that offers career opportunities and a rewarding career. We welcome all candidates bringing the correct skills and knowledge to our workforce.
“We also want to increase the number of female candidates applying to work in all parts of the ScotRail Alliance and the depot visit hopefully demonstrated to the girls that this is a challenging and vibrant environment they’d want to work in.”
Two senior engineering managers – Syeda Ghufran and Lynsey McCabe – also took the girls through a “day in the life” of an engineer and answered questions. Ghufran said: “Girls, in particular, don’t seem to think that engineering is a suitable career, despite their achievements in maths and science at school.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here