Grace Ashiru
A school in the township of Zwelethemba near Worcester, in the province of Boland, sends 16 students to the United States to participate in an international robotics competition
According to SABC News, this is because a math teacher named Kudakwashe Takawira started a “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Club” at the school “Galactic Einsteins” with 30 members. These students would come after school and during the holidays to learn about coding, programming, and building Lego robots. This led to them winning awards and trophies throughout South Africa, including the “First Lego League Robotics Nationals in Johannesburg.”
We don’t just teach them robotics; we also teach them how to be creative because we want them to be future innovators for their community. We teach them values and rules to work for themselves and to think outside the box, and we give them rare skills that this school or general education needs to give them.
We’ve also found that there needs to be more time to start engineering in college. That’s why you need to start at the beginning, so we’re teaching them at this young age so that by the time they get to college, they’re well on their way and doing well,” says Takawira.
Many of these kids come from informal areas and need help figuring out what they can do. One said he was excited to learn how to build a robot: “It’s fascinating.”. I never thought I’d make something like a moving robot. I didn’t even know how to make a robot move, and I didn’t know how to build one either. But since I’ve been here, I’ve learned how to program, build, and create robots. It feels like so much fun.”
They will be in Massachusetts for three weeks to compete in the Internationals Robotics WPI Open Tournament. Coach Kuda will also be there to help them “shine and win” at workshops and training camps at some of the most famous tech schools in the world.
