The students of Vivian Fowler memorial College have featured in the FTC APOC 2021 global robotics competition as the only Girl-child school and the only Nigerian and African School. FIRST® is the World’s Leading Youth-Serving Nonprofit Advancing STEM Education and inspires young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.
Vivian Fowler Memorial College was part of the 40 FTC teams from around the globe participated in a remote event, hosted by faculty of science and Engineering, Macquarie University in Sydney Australia. The event had live robot rounds, alliances, judging, and getting to meet amazing people that are all excited about robots and STEM!
The Director of the College, Mrs. Olufunke Fowler-Amba stated that the future is technology and as a result, the curriculum has to be redirected. The college according to her has been engaging in collaboration to provide qualitative educational delivery. According to her, “We need a curriculum that prepares students for the 21st century. The school included Robotics in her curriculum in 2017 and partnered with organizations to support the programme. The school also has a synergy within its community to coordinate the teachers. Teachers with background in technology are sourced more in view of the need to develop a more enriching curriculum.
She added that the way of teaching the students have changed as education has to be more holistic. She reiterated the need for the development of soft skills to prepare the students to meet future challenges. She urged the government to include robotics a part of the curriculum and prepare students for the future. She stated that it is not only private schools that are involved in robotics as the nation’s educational curriculum should be revamped. The current curriculum is based on past glory and skills that are becoming extinct. Some things according to her may not make the students to be cerebral in their thinking.
Through robotics, the school has been able to develop talents and potentials of the students. The students were engaged and they got interested in teamwork and collaboration. The federal government should embark on it from a gradual point ad look at it properly. Ghana as a nation has incorporated robotics in its curriculum and it is expedient for the federal government to make Nigeria competitive by injecting technology into all aspects to enhance development.
The students incorporated skills and several hours of work into the robotics project despite the time constraints. What we only did is to build a culture in them and the students showcase their potentials. The students took ownership of the robotics competition to and the experience they have gained is priceless. The students have been prepared adequately to compete with others around the globe. We are preparing our students to be globally competent. It also important we give them the ability they need.
We are poised to become a technologically oriented team and schools changing the face of women in the work force. We are raising successful women in career and in all spheres of life.
The leader of the Vivian Fowler College’s 15-member team, Adeyimika Adebayo said they got interested in robotics to build their potentials and challenging themselves to embark on something new. The emphasized the fact that they want to leave their comfort zones and try new things and pick up new challenges. Robotics according to them has allowed them to pay attention to details and plan appropriately. Robotics has also helped them in no small extent to be creative and think outside the box.
The students also believe that their participation in the competition is also to make their school proud and also showcase the positive side of Nigeria and her potentials. For them, participating in the competition as the only girl child school is also a call to action to every girl to believe in their dreams and pursue their goals in life.
The leaders of builders of the robots presented for the competition Leila Eneche and Harriet Ariyo says they pushed themselves beyond the limit to construct their robots and make them unique for the competition. They pointed out that that had to work tirelessly with the support of the school to construct their innovative robots for the competition. According to them, “we are putting Nigeria on the map as nation not only identified with I insecurity but also a country growing fortunes. Our school is open to ideas and we are encouraged to believe in our passion and showcase our innate potentials., they added.
