FG, Tech Group Train Youths in Digital Skills
TECHDIGEST – Non-profit digital literacy organization, Coderina Educational and Technology Foundation has partnered with the federal government to promote digital learning and innovation among Nigerian young learners through the First Lego League (FLL) Robotics Championship and First Tech Challenge (FTC).
Coderina, the official operator of the FLL in Africa, said the challenge aims to transform education in Africa while empowering the youths to become solution providers by using technological and innovative tools to solve societal problems.
Announcing the theme for this year’s challenge in Queens College, Lagos, Chairman, Board of Trustee of Coderina Educational and Technology Foundation, Femi Niyi stated that FLL “is a project-based robotics coding programme that teaches kids how to use technology to solve current day challenges.”
He said that this year’s theme, “Cargo Connect, Fast Forward” will be looking at how products, goods and services are being conveyed from one point to another.
“What we are doing with the theme is to drive young learners to begin to seek solutions. First, to get understanding on the current role or ways of cargo shipments, and then seek ways of solving different problems identified within the space.
Read Also:
“They will thereafter begin to look at the future of transportation and cargo movements. Later, they will together in a fun way display their learning outcomes, build innovative projects about the topic and interact with others on what they can learn and share.
“This will include the over 104 federal government colleges on the programme in partnership with us through the Federal Ministry of Education as well as over 50 other private schools that are on the programme in Nigeria”.
Niyi explained that the FLL programme will commence with about 10 weeks of project research, building, practice, and programming by the students with their mentors, divided into teams with each comprising 10 members.
“At the end, they come into a competition, which is actually not a competition, between different schools or teams but a competition about how you can display your skills within a specific period of time.”
“So, it is a co-operational team work with each team having 10 members. They learn team work and inclusiveness and then showcase their innovative products, robot designs and robot games,’’ Niyi added.
Also speaking, Kolawole Osundeyi, an Assistant Director in the department of Technology and Science Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, extolled the positive impact of the initiative since inception.
“The initiative has brought significant changes to the students, most of who can now assemble robot, carry out coding and programming.
“Moreover, they have been able to attend international competitions and come out excellently and so we are confident that our students can compete and stand side by side with their counterparts at the global stage”.
