World Children’s Day 2018 : Every child deserves the right to Quality Education
In 1989, Sir Tim Berners-Lee came up with the idea of the World Wide Web while working as a software engineer at the CERN particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. Fast forward, World Wide Web has contributed significantly especially in providing an avenue to share educational instructional materials even to the most disadvantaged children in the developing nations.1989 also marks the year that the Convention on the Rights of the Child was first conceived, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and signed by 196 countries and it is now celebrated as World Children’s Day on 20th November each year.
Young people (especially those in the developing world) born that year have since grown in a world with limited access to quality education. Every child deserves the right to grow in a world that enables them to fulfill their potential. To achieve this processes of life-long quality learning must be taken into account by all stakeholders right from when they are young.
This why one of our main goals since African Maths Initiative inception has been to promote a lifelong culture of learning. Although we focus on Mathematics we encourage the interactions across all disciplines. This has seen us work with thousands of primary, high school kids and even university students in count.
In these fast-changing times where technology, big data, and artificial intelligence are taking shape (albeit slowly) in developing countries. It would be a travesty of justice if we fail to prepare young learners to be ready for such technological disruptions which will basically affect any field they’ll choose to pursue later on.
To be ready for this means to have skills such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and problem-solving. This is why our initiatives such as African Data Initiative, Digital Communities Initiative and annual Maths Camps have been more or less about imparting practical skills to young students enabling them to be critical thinkers.
How can you help?
We have many initiatives across all academic levels and are always open to new collaborations. Feel free to contact us.
Each year, African Maths Initiative and Supporting African Maths Initiative has been organizing week-long Maths Camps for high school students that introduce young learners to innovative learning methods and applied Mathematics concepts in robotics, statistics, geometry, physics among other exciting concepts.
Our activities have been enabled through generous donations and support of passionate volunteers. You can find out how you can support our initiatives through this link.
Written by Patrick Njoroge
Africa Science Week-Kenya to kick off in December International Girls in ICT Day, 2019.