A team from Gayaza High takes first place in robotics competition known as the Pan African Robotics Competition in Africa. They emerged as the winners in the Makers league with their project called the UV rover. The announcement was made through the school’s social media handle on Twitter.
The UV-Rover received the most number of likes on Facebook with 3 points added to their final score. 2nd place was the team from Mali, so 2 points added to their final score, and 3rd place was the team from Ghana so 1 point was added to their final score.
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With a UV robot, Gayaza High takes first place in robotics competition
Working in a team of 4, the girls invented a robot called the UV rover that emits UV light which can be used to disinfect hard to reach areas.
Citing the ongoing pandemic, the team from Gayaza developed this creation that creates a more effective means of disinfecting areas as compared to the use of alcohol-based sanitisers which is not 100% effective. UV light can be damaging to materials and living tissues. This damage can be beneficial, for instance, in disinfecting surfaces.
What is the Pan African Robotics Competition?
The Pan African Robotics Competition is a youth robotics competition that brings together middle school and high school robotics teams across Africa and its diaspora. PARC teams can compete in three categories: Tech, Stars & Makers Leagues. Competing teams are given challenges based on real-world topics relevant to science, engineering and the sustainable development of Africa.
Teams are judged on their poster and oral presentations, as well as their robotics design and performance. Winners in each league are awarded with prizes and scholarships.
Other countries that participated in the makers league included; Mali, Ghana, Nigeria, and Angola.
Gayaza High School continues to show tremendous effort towards encouraging students especially girls in the STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). In 2019, it hosted the National Science and Innovation Competitions, a STEM initiative by the Forum for African Women Educationalists Uganda.
The competition held at Gayaza High School was attended by 20 schools from the four regions of the country, showcasing 30 different innovations.
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Uganda continues to showcase a vibrant energy in the innovation space with innovations and developments coming up each and every day in various sectors. However, despite these good numbers there is still an evident lack of women in digital spaces.
Gayaza High School is championing the possibility of women in digital and innovative spaces from the ground up, allowing young girls to pursue careers in STEM fields.
The school has made effort to incorporate ICT in different other ways. As one of the first traditional schools to develop an e-learning platform, the high school is truly miles ahead. The Gayaza High school e learning platform was launched in 2010 spearheaded by Ronald Ddungu, the school deputy headteacher.
It is affiliated to Microsoft Partners in Learning for Schools programme. The school uploads free to access exercises, classroom notes, video tutorials, audio podcasts and resource links.
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