A total of 150 school girls from five primary schools in Arusha City have completed special tailor-made Information Technology training, offered through the Korea International Cooperation Agency.
KOICA conducted the training through the E3Empower Africa organization operating from Arusha, Tanzania.
The girls were also taught how to make robots and use Artificial Intelligence in controlling the androids.
“At first the students were a little bit scared, but eventually they caught on and started enjoying the training,” said the Founder and Director of E3Empower Organization, Ms Ji Young Rhee
The girls are pupils from five public education institutions in Arusha including Kaloleni Primary School, Salei, Osunyai, Sombetini and Unga-Limited Primary Schools.
The Director of E3Empower Ji Young Rhee explained that the ICT Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) training sessions ran for four consecutive months.
Upon completion of the program the pupils were awarded with certificates.
There were also prizes for the best performing students and equipment to their schools.
“We selected the Unga-Limited Primary School, to be installed with 20 computer sets for further training and practices as well as digital projects creation among the 150 graduates,” said Jo Youngrhee.
Of the five education institutions, the Unga-Limited Primary School happens to be central and easily accessible to all the pupils who have undergone the computer training at the E3Empower center, located in the Summit Center Building.
The Primary School’s Education Officer for Arusha Urban District, Hussein Bakari was the Guest of Honor during the graduation ceremony.
“I will personally ensure that all the computers and related accessories donated to the schools are well taken care of and used accordingly,” he said, lauding the Korea International Cooperating Agency (KOICA) for its dedication in ensuring that Tanzanian children become computer literate.
Mwanaidi Abdallah is a teacher at Unga-Limited Primary School and expressed gratitude for the computers donated to the institution, saying the equipment will also help to relay training to other pupils who didn’t attend the sessions.
One of the parents whose children benefited from the training, Asia Abdallah said the skills have enabled her child to be more confident in handling computers and even use the machines to write their homework.
Saidani Gandiwa a class six pupil and Shatma Ramadhan in class five, both being graduates of the program said they were first afraid of computers but are now experts in handling basic programs and can even train other students at school.