Africa-Press – Botswana. Ministry of Communications and Innovation in partnership with the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) launched a pioneering project called the Botswana Robotics and Automation Skills Transfer (BRAST) project at the Botswana Development and Innovation Hub (BDIH) in Gaborone on Thursday.
The project, a national strategic initiative designed to introduce robotics, automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) programming skills to junior and senior secondary schools across Botswana, aims to empower learners with hands-on technical skills and inspire innovation through structured training and competitions. It is also aimed to test the scalability of robotics education within Botswana’s diverse school contexts.
The Ministry of Communications and Innovation’s acting chief technical officer, Mr Ontlametse Gaothuse explained in an interview that the ministry had contributed P5.4 million towards the initiative, to support the widespread roll out of the programme across the country.
“We have here for the project premier or pre-launch training schools like Naledi and Masunga senior, as well as children from Ncojane, Shakawe, Seronga, and Masunga as was the plan. And this is only just the beginning,” said Mr Gaothuse, adding that in the second phase, they would engage the private sector to help extend the programme’s reach to more schools across the country.
“We also intend to partner with the Ministry of Education to ultimately make this part of our curriculum,” he said, expressing his hope to see Batswana youth working in major companies around the world and for Botswana to make significant technological advancements.
HRDC manager of Graduate Research and Innovation and BRAST project manager, Dr Oabona Nthebolang explained that the aim of the project was to inspire young people and encourage them to embrace emerging technologies such as AI and robotics which represented the future.
“So, we will be reaching to all the four corners of Botswana because we want to be inclusive, every child deserves an opportunity to be part of this project,” he said.
Speaking about the competition, Mr Nthebolang explained that there would be a series of elimination rounds to determine the winners who would then go on to represent Botswana at the Robotics for Good competition in Geneva, Switzerland in July.
He added that the pre-launch training, served as a preparatory tool to equip participants for the grand event. As part of their head to head challenge, learners were required to programme their robotic kits to complete specific tasks while navigating around obstacles.
“They have their ambulance trucks with the programming and they have to navigate around the obstacles without dropping the patients. The speed and direction of turns are entirely determined by the programming,” Mr Nthebolang explained.
For 14-year-old, Ofentse Tshipo, a form 2 student at Marakanelo Junior Secondary School from the Ncojane region, the robotics competition was her first time experience but certainly not the last.
“I have always wanted to study robotics and this competition is a dream come true,” she said, revealing that her aspiration is to pursue both programming and coding.
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