The impact of educational outreach programs in schools can be felt on the academic, physiological, and psychological traits of the students.
Various barriers prevent many young ones, even the young female, from starting a career in tech at an early age. One of such barriers is the lack of sensitization of an early career start in tech, even as a secondary school student, limited availability of resources and materials for learning, as well as a Mentor, to guide and track progress.
Techrity’s talent development scheme called the Kickstart program is aimed at solving these problems. We embarked on an outreach program tagged: TECHing the Young in various secondary schools in a bid to educate the young ones on the need to start a career in tech at a young age to boycott the unemployment problem faced in Nigeria. The outreach program was embarked on to commemorate the International Women’s Day held on 8th March 2021, and also to sensitize the female gender and educate them on the opportunities for females in technology, this was done as part of our commitment to the UN SDGs 5: Bridging the gap in gender disparity in the tech industry.
The outreach program featured talks centered on careers in tech, the need to start their careers early, as well as showcasing successful young talents in the tech industry such as Opemipo Disu, the 15-year-old developer and IBM champion from Nigeria.
Two students who showed great enthusiasm were awarded scholarships to enable them to kickstart their tech journey. Techrity’s Kickstart program includes a laptop, a personal mentor and data support for each child to aid their learning journey.
These students are Prince Onuzulike of Inama International Secondary School, and Chijioke Egbuomuche, a student of the Hybrid International Academy.
Prince Onuzulike is in class 1 in the Junior Secondary category of Inama International Secondary School. Prince is a young lad who almost had a deformed hand from an accident, which is quite noticeable.
Chijioke Egbuomuche is a student of Hybrid International Academy Senior Secondary. He has a flair for creating things which can be seen in the picture below.
Chijioke created a Fan, a Car, and a Dispenser. These things were all made from cartons, D.C motors and batteries. For the fan, he used something like a blade to act as the propeller so an amount of air touches you when it is turned on. The car moves with help of the D.C motor connected to the back tyre under the car. The Dispenser is a manual one, so it had no use for the D.C motor. Chijioke’s creativity and innovation are what earned him the scholarship to further enhance his creative flair and help him digitally.
The recipients of Techrity’s Kickstart Program will be given a laptop, a mentor as well as data support, to help guide these young minds to early career exploits in technology. The mentors assigned to these young ones are responsible for their growth and progress in technology.
Few students were also awarded cash prizes for their great performances. These students are David Bob, Emmanuel Ekeh, Prince Onuzulike, all of Inama International Secondary School and Miracle Eboseh of Hybrid International Academy. Some of the students were awarded cash prizes for their ability to answer technical questions, performance in examinations and their quest for knowledge.
Techrity is all about Helping New Talents and building solutions for social good, we also believe in Paying it Forward.
Watch this explainer video on Youtube.
Important Links
Watch the Women in Leadership and Technology Virtual Event on Youtube
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