2023-2024 Robotics Season Kicks Off

The season will see students participate in various challenges through two competitions until the finale in February and March 2024.

The season will see students in Kenya compete in two major tournaments with the first event in the season being the regional robotics competition which has been themed around finding solutions to the food problems in the country. The theme according to the directors was drawn from the high cost of living menace that is facing a majority of Kenyans with official numbers putting those at risk at 5.4 million.

The second tournament in the season will be the ‘Masterpiece’ by the first LEGO League which will be a first in the country with students competing globally with their peers to earn points through a meticulous challenge and awarding system. It will put to task the creativity of students in art while exposing them to fun in learning.

Speaking to the media on the side-lines of the launch attended by key stakeholders in the education sector, parents, and students, at Woodreck School in Nairobi, Stemtrix director Christine Onyango expressed her joy at the launch of the season adding that participating students were poised to massively benefit from the season owing to the successes of previous seasons.

She further added that the competition will highlight the need to embrace robotics in teaching STEM subjects in the country and boost efforts to draw more learners to the STEM subjects in the Kenyan education curriculum.

‘’ Robotics is a beautiful concept because it embraces the STEM subjects holistically but also brings out the communication aspect of Arts Subjects as well. So the beauty of Robotics is that it builds confidence among the students, helps them learn about problem-solving as well as be creative in the way they express themselves and in the way they research and find solutions.’’ Added Christine on the side-lines of the launch.

According to Christine, participating students have over the period continued to grow in numbers in the competition. She further noted that the students have also grown in creativity and confidence levels and called for support from interested partners to make the competition bigger.

George Ishamweta from Kenya National Commission for UNESCO congratulated Stemtrix for taking a big step in pushing for the integration of Robotics in STEM learning.

He further added that girls needed to be encouraged to enroll in STEM courses to end their under-representation.

‘’ if you look at careers with an involvement in STEM, only thirty percent of women are involved globally. It means that women are underrepresented because of various reasons. We need to change this narrative by promoting STEM and it means that integrating robotics into learning will make it interesting which will motivate more girls to join STEM subjects.’’

Teachers who attended the launch ceremony encouraged more schools to participate in the season as well as launch a robotics department in their schools so as to pull more learners into STEM-led careers in the country.

The Robotics Competition in the Country was first launched at the Brookhouse School Karen in 2016 and gave birth to the first local tournament in 2017. The tournament has continued to attract more participants ever since with the 2022-2023 season ending in February this year.