Three schools represent Nigeria at World Robot Olympiad in India

The three schools which won this year’s National Robotics Olympiad competition in Lagos on Saturday will be heading to India for the November World Robot Olympiad. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the three schools are Imperial Gate, Lagos Island at the Elementary Regular Category and Elementary Open Category. The others are Model […]

The three schools which won this year’s National Robotics Olympiad competition in Lagos on Saturday will be heading to India for the November World Robot Olympiad.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the three schools are Imperial Gate, Lagos Island at the Elementary Regular Category and Elementary Open Category.

The others are Model College; Meiran in the Junior Category and in the Senior Category is Surrogate Achievers, a team of schools.

They qualified for the Nov. 25 to Nov. 27 World Robot Olympiad in India having score 85, 20 and 100 points respectively at the 2016 Nigeria Robotics Olympiad Qualifiers/Symposium, organised by Arc-Lights Foundation in Lagos.

An excited Sandra Umeh from Imperial Gate, who spoke for the winners in the Elementary Regular and Open Category, with overall score of 200 over 300, said that robotics involved creative thinking and constant practice to achieve success.

Meanwhile, Mr Bayo Biyeye, the Director of Science and Technology, Lagos State Ministry of Education, has commended the Lagos State government for promoting robotics in schools.

Biyeye, who described the progamme as a good one, said the government had been supporting it for over five years.

“The government has also provided Leego Kits for our schools; we want to make sure that the schools have the kits so that the children can practice.

“It is a good programme and an application of Information Communication Technology (ICT),’’ he said.

Mrs Bisola Obasanya, the Managing Director of Arc-Light Foundation, organizers of the event, said that programme promoted science, technology, engineering and mathematics among children.

Obasanya said that about 22,000 children from public and private primary, secondary and tertiary institutions participated in the completion before arriving at the qualifier.

 She said that robotics had made children to be critical thinkers, creative and to think out of the box.

“Kids like it a lot; it is not like the normal regular boring school work.

“Whenever they are on their own, it looks as if they are playing with toys but in actual sense learning.

“Kids love Leego education, children learn through it, it is a different way of teaching,’’ she said.

Obasanya commended the Lagos State Government for the support given to robotics or Leego education in the state.

NAN reports that prior to the qualifiers, different competitions were held in the different regions before the best 48 schools that competed in the qualifier were selected. (NAN)