Nursery schools in Mombasa have performed well in the concluded inaugural robotics competition.
The PP2 pupils from Utange, Kadzandani and Longo ECDE centres were declared first, second and third winners respectively.
The ceremony was held at the Mama Ngina Waterfront Park on Wednesday.
Utange ECDE centre in Kisauni constituency, was declared the overall winner with 38.33 points, Kadzandani in Kwa Bulo slum Nyali, had 38.08 points while Lango posted 36.83 points.
Pupils from Utange were declared winners of the Hands on category whereas the Kadzandani pupils won in the Creative and innovation category.
Under the two categories, the nursery schools pupils were tested on creativity, completeness and functionality of the models created and teamwork.
Each school provided six pupils, therefore 30 PP2 children from five Early Childhood Development Education centres participated in the event.
Before the main event on Wednesday, the learners participated in the inter-classes competition within their schools before a team of six best was selected.
The inter-classes competitions were held between February 8 and 11, in which 464 pupils participated from the five schools.
The centres that took part in the inter-classes competition included Likoni, Longo, Kadzandani, Utange, Khadija, Jomvu and SOS children's home.
Mombasa ICT chief officer Anwar Ahmed said the competition was used to assess the first batch of pupils who have benefited from the county-funded robotic programme in public ECDEs.
“We have to look at and tap into the potential of the digital economy. We need to lay the foundation early enough, to tap into these children’s innovativeness,” Ahmed said.
“The county government is looking forward to partnering with other stakeholders to spearhead scientific innovations among the ECDE pupils.”
Ahmed said the programme is one of the best in the world, and they have a vision of making the county a technology hub for the country and region at large.
He said they intend to develop the competition to international standards, to attract entries from other countries.
“This will facilitate cultural exchange and attract tourists to Mombasa,” the ICT chief officer said.
The robotic programme was launched in February last year targeting at least 30,000 nursery school pupils in all the 104 public ECDE centres in Mombasa.
So far, eight centres out of 104 public ECDE centres have been equipped to offer the robotics programme.
The cost of equipping one centre is Sh800,000. The pupils are offered robotic classes twice a week.
“We have realised, during the robotic lessons, schools do not report absenteeism cases. Children always look forward to the robotics classes,” Ahmed said.
A total of 18 teachers have been trained in the robotics programme with the county targeting to train 100 teachers every year under the County Integrated Development Programme 2023-2027.
Ahmed said they will set up 30 robotic centres in each of the Mombasa county wards.
The county director of the Early Childhood and Libraries department of Education and ICT Mwangi Gichui urged the Ministry of Education to in-cooperate robotics in the new Competency-Based Curriculum.
“The robotic programme is targeting PP2 pupils, this, therefore, means as they proceed to Grade 1, they will not have the programme,” Gichui said.
“This programme should be incorporated in CBC for learners to continue with it. In Mombasa, we have come up with innovative clubs in schools to ensure continuity.”
Gichui urged parents to support their children in learning technology in preparation for the future.
“The fourth industrial revolution will be technology-driven, we are here developing human capital at an early stage of learning,” he said.
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology Mombasa Campus director Fridah Simba hailed the programme.
Simba said they will continue partnering with the county government.
She said Jkuat had tailor-made courses to train students in technology and robotics.
The director said IT is the way to go with the advent of artificial intelligence, as she called for CBC to incorporate the programmes.
“If you can nurture these young children at this level, when they get to the university they will be coming up with innovations that can be commercialised,” she said.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
