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Nigeria: Nigerian Girls Build Robots to Tackle Waste

2016/02/27

The Odyssey Educational Foundation is a Nigerian NGO that works with children in 15 national schools in Abuja to offer a rich learning experience in robotics, computer programming and the four STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and maths. The foundation aims to encourage additional children, particularly girls, to think about pursuing science and technology careers.

The organisation was set up by Esther Uzochukwu-Denis in 2013, next she travelled to India to complete an MSc. Set on pursuing a career in the telecommunications industry, she changed her mind at the same time as she discovered that school clubs in India taught children programming and provided additional STEM tuition. Inspired by the experience, she returned home determined to offer the same service to Nigerian children.

These photos were taken at the Government Girls Secondary School Dutse and the Junior Secondary School Area 11.

On 30 January, Nigeria hosted the Initial Lego League challenge, facilitated by the foundation. In this international competition, students program Lego mini robots to achieve a specific task. This year additional than 233,000 competitors from 81 nations took up the challenge titled Trash Trek. It involved programming the robots to pick up and drop off pieces of garbage on a playing area, inclunding demonstrating research projects related to the topic of waste.

The two schools presented projects involving recycling, waste disposal and solar energy for domestic use.

These photos were taken at the Government Girls Secondary School Dutse and the Junior Secondary School Area 11.

The two schools presented projects involving recycling, waste disposal and solar energy for domestic use.

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