Nursery schools in Mombasa performed well in the inaugural robotics competition organized by Mombasa County Government in collaboration with JKUAT Mombasa Campus among other partners.
The competition, held March 2, 2022, at Mama Ngina Waterfront Park, saw PP2 pupils from Utange, Kadzandani, and Longo Early Childhood and Development Education (ECDE) Centres declared first, second and third winners respectively.
With the emergence of the digital economy and the opportunities it presents, the competition targeted over 30,000 pupils from 104 public ECDE Centres in Mombasa in a bid to build their capacity and spearhead scientific innovation at an early age.
Pupils from Utange were declared winners of the Hands-on category whereas the Kadzandani pupils won in the Creative and innovation category.
Speaking in his capacity as the Head Judge of the competition, Mombasa Campus, Deputy Director, Mr. Collins Ondago said under the two categories, the nursery schools pupils were tested on creativity, completeness and functionality of the models created and teamwork.
Mombasa Campus Director, Dr. Fridah Simba, said the University will continue partnering with the County government and other like-minded organisations in championing innovations, knowledge and technology transfer in the Coast region.
She further emphasized that IT was the way to go with the advent of artificial intelligence saying the campus offers tailor-made short courses and normal academic programmes in the areas of technology as the globe prepares for the fourth industrial revolution.
“If you nurture these young minds at this level, when they get to the University they will be coming up with innovations that can be commercialized,” said Dr. Simba
Mombasa County ICT Chief Officer, Mr. Anwar Ahmed appreciated all the stakeholders who had participated in the programme saying “Our vision is to make our county a technology hub in the region and country at large. We intend to develop the competition to international standards to attract entries from other countries.
The competition is a build-up from a collaboration between JKUAT Mombasa Campus and the County government that saw the two entities stage a COVID-19 Innovation Challenge for high schools in the county, in an effort to encourage young learners to critically think and develop innovative solutions.