By Kelechi David
Another success has been recorded in the Ekiti State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology as some Students of Public Secondary Schools in the state, built and programmed Robots.
This follows the introduction of Robotics and coding initiative in some Public Secondary Schools in the State by the present Government in the year 2019.
The students were at the office of the Ministry Education Science and Technology in Ado-Ekiti, the State Capital to demonstrate the functionality of the Robots.
It could be recalled that one of the five pillars of the present administration in Ekiti State is knowledge Economy.
No wonder, the government since it’s inception in 2018 has been doing all within it’s purview to provide necessary tools and environment to ensure Ekiti students aquires knowledge and can compare with their counterpart conveniently across the country.
The results seems to be manifesting as the students of the 12 pilots schools selected for the Robotics and coding initiative of the state government came up with programmed Robots to address societal problems.
The students during the demonstrations which was supervised by the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Dr Olabisi Aderiye, and other stakeholders in the Education sector, took time to explain the functions of the Robots in indentifying and tackling some societal problems.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr Folakemi Olomojobi said that the development was borne out of the passion of the State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi to see Ekiti students excel in all ramifications.
Other stakeholders present at the occasion, including the Permanent Secretary, Teaching Service Commission, Mr Olusesan Alabi and the representative of the Chairman, Board for Technical, and Vocation Education, Mr Bayo Akerele commended the Government’s initiative, expressing hope that the Robotics and coding would be of advantage to the students in the future.
Two of the students programmer in an interview expressed delight at the initiative, hoping to build robots that would be effective in the society.
Earlier, in his welcome address, a Director, in the Ministry, Mr Bamidele Familoni said that twelve pilot schools were selected out of the two hundred and twenty Secondary Schools in the State, saying the Programme was to prepare them for a National competition slated for later this year.
The Robotics and coding was an initiative of the Ekiti State Government first introduced to State in the year 2019, but for Coronavirus pandemic, the process could not start till October, 2020 and when the components arrived the state, the teachers were trained in December last year in robotics and coding.
It is amazing to note that within three months the students can averagely put together and manipulate the robot which has just been demonstrated by them.
