First Lady Sandra Granger on Friday donated a robotic kit to the students of the Den Amstel Primary School, twenty-eight of whom completed a two-day Robotics Camp facilitated by Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Guyana.
In her brief remarks at the school, Mrs. Granger said that the robotics camp marked the beginning for the eager young minds.
“You’ve just started. This is going to open up a whole new world to you… It is my hope that at the end of this you will understand how to connect with robots… You started out with little pieces and [look at] what you have here. This is the world you are going to inherit… 60 percent of our jobs will be done by robots. So, if you are in charge of programming the robots, you’ll have a [job]. I hope it will also stem your interest in other things, including scratch programming and, of course, the other STEM subjects,” she said, according to a release from the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP).
The First Lady also encouraged the participants to practice and compete in the robotics exhibition set for next July.
“You didn’t only learn the robotics; you also learned some scratch programming… [You] can form a club and participate in our national exhibition next year. [You] can participate as a school in the scratch programming league… At the next National Robotics Exhibition, Den Amstel could come and prove to Guyana what you can do,” she said.
Head Facilitator, Aisha Peters said that the participants have a responsibility to share the knowledge with their peers.
“After your two-day [camp], I’m sure and I am satisfied that if you go to a different school or a different community, each and every one of you would be able to teach somebody else. [The knowledge] is not going to [be left] here with you alone. You have to go out there and teach somebody else what you [have] learnt,” she said, according to the release.
