High School Robotics winners plead for support to participate in Turkey contest

Three girls from Mbaikini Secondary School in Mwala sub-county, Machakos County, may miss out on the opportunity to represent Kenya in the International Robotic Olympiad, which will be held in Turkey from November this year if they do not get funding to support their travel.

The event, in which the girls Angela Kalondu, Winnie Wangari and Magdalene Mukonyo were slated to be part, is set to be held between the 26th to 30th.

The three girls had participated in the National World Robotics Olympiad in Nairobi which brought together 25 schools from across the country.

The girls had coded their robot to rebuild a city that had been devastated by an earthquake.

The robot was coded to collect and dump debris, reconnect broken water pipes and rebuild the destroyed houses.

Mbaikini Girls Secondary School was started in 2021 and is among schools in Mwala that received funding from Future Investment Initiatives, constructed a computer laboratory that was equipped with several laptops that the students have been using to learn coding and robotics.

“We participated in the World Robotics Olympiad and emerged winners out of the 25 schools that participated. Although we were not sure we would win, we were competing against giant schools that included big private and national schools that have plenty of resources, unlike us,” says Kalondu, one of the girls in the team.

According to Wangari, another team member, their robot is coded to do the tasks according to priority. Although their creation wasn’t perfect to detail, the girls say they intend to scale up its capabilities.

“We had at least two chances and although we made some errors, we managed to score 44 points that enabled us to trounce the big giants,” adds Wangari.

The thought of representing Kenya in the International Robotic Olympiad is exciting the girls, and as Mukonyo says, it will be the first time for them to travel by air, and will not only be a pride to the nation but also their reclusive village, that is nestled in the bowels Machakos. She adds that most villagers have only managed to “travel to Nairobi or Mombasa”.

The Director of Education and Technology at Kenya Connect, Patrick Munguti, says they have been working with schools in rural Mwala to strengthen education and support teachers and students to achieve their dreams.

“Seeing the girls from a sub-county school emerge winners is enough proof that all students are equal and only need to be empowered and exposed to opportunities and resources to thrive and achieve their goals,” he says.

He is optimistic that the girls have received enough training in robotics and can easily win in the international space, and that he has faith they will get funding from well-wishers to travel to Turkey for the competition.

By Rose Mukonyo