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W.TEC’s Academy makes a quick return to train our Ogun state participants at Ilaro and Joga-Orile the art of harnessing renewable energy using improvised electronics. The quick training is due to constraints from recent COVID19 restrictions and protocols. Thankfully with the window of opportunity we were able to squeeze in something amazing for our girls which will be very useful for them.
The W.TEC Academy is an afterschool technology club, which presents technology in an engaging way, with the aim of attracting more girls to pursue science and technology careers. The clubs target girls, aged 10 to 17 years, who attend public schools in Lagos. The students go through a practical and engaging curriculum comprised of programming with Alice and Greenfoot, Mobile Application Development, Computer Architecture, Networking, and Robotics.,
W.TEC’s team from Lagos embarked on an amazing journey to Ogun State just before the recent eruption of protests nationwide. Their journey that would have taken just 2 hours took almost the whole day with so many bush paths for shortcuts in Ogun state to avoid road blocks and other issues. Thankfully our team, Maryam Abdulsalam – Program Manager and Lesley Tarabina – Progamme Officer were able o join our Ogun State field team in Joga Orile – Yewa LGA, near Abeokuta for their first stop over. The first phase of their programme was to train the trainers for 3 days before and then supervise the sessions of the tranners with girls for 2 days before moving on to our second location in Ilaro. The journey to Ilaro was just as eventful like that to Joga-Orile. At Ilaro they conducted they conductedthe same routine at Joga – Orile same to set the programme before returning back to base in Lagos.
The training for the girls was to teach them how to use improvised parts of electronic devices to produce the following 3 main improvised devices:
- Solar panels (Using – solar panels, transistor (regulator), wires & USB cable)
- A rechargeable battery cell (Using – Batteries, wires, LED, charging module, switch and cartons)
- A lamp powered by the rechargeable battery produced (Using batteries, wires, LED, resistor, CD, charging module, robber plate, switch and others.)
The participants are expected at both Joga Orile and Ilaro to complete both their training classes and project work in groups by the end of this week – Friday November 6th, afterwards Maryam Abdulsalam and Lesley Tarabina will join return for their graduation ceremony during which the participants will present all what they have learnt and the benefits such will be for them.
The main aim of the this session as part of the STEM empowerment after school programme is to empower the girls with skills for them to accesss much needed energy in their homes to power their devices and light up their homes when needed.
W.TEC looks forward to continue the programme next year hopefully the present situations would have improved to permit our planned full school calendar classes for the girls in Ogun State.
The W.TEC Academy – Ogun State Programme at Joga Orile in Yewa LGA and Ilaro is sponsored by the Afonja – Akinyemi Family Foundation[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]