Mombasa Robofest

Students in Mombasa County have for the first time been exposed to the world of robotics through the Robofest, an event that brings together learners to test their skills in robotics programming to challenge them to solve real-world problems.

The event which took place at the Oshwal Academy in Mombasa saw learners given 3o minutes to practice and two minutes to run their codes in the quest to solve as many challenges as possible.

Stemtrix Founder and Director Christine Achieng' while expressing her joy at the success of the event which has happened for the very first time in the county pointed out the huge turnout of schools to the festival as a testament to the schools giving robotics an important place in their curriculum.

''We called upon different schools in Mombasa county to come for the event and they did within a very short span. I see a lot of interest from the heads of schools and parents, there are so many of them here with the heads of schools to support their kids.'' Christine Achieng' added while speaking to the media on the sidelines of the event.

She further thanked the Ministry of Education and other organisations for the support they have given schools in embracing robotics in the current push to have a competency-based curriculum that is skills-based.

Mombasa county teachers who had been looking forward to the festival since last year witnessed their students put their knowledge and practice into action with the majority of the educators hoping for their students to come top on the scoreboard with the further aim for the competition to push their learners to embrace stem subjects.

Dennis Ogega, a computer science teacher at Merisha school thanked the festival organisers while underscoring the importance of robotics in the development of science and student's skills in Kenya.''Through robotics the students can embrace sciences because there is a lot of measurement, that is mathematics in it when doing coding. You can also solve some scientific problems through robotics which means critical thinking for the students to solve critical issues in society.'' added Mr. Ogega

The festival judges noted that the learners showcased high levels of skills throughout the competition which according to them is important in the age of the competency-based curriculum that stresses skills.

''I have loved their effort to display what they have created. I would also love to say that they showed epic creativity in designing the robots and were patient with their missions.'' Clancy Kilugu a Jude at the competition told the media.

According to Christine Achieng' founder and CEO Stemtrix East Africa, the Mombasa festival will see winners advance to Michigan state in May for the international competition which will see them represent Kenya while competing with other champions from different parts of the world.