When the sensitization tour was approved as one of Techpadi’s activities for the year, I was the most excited. It was my idea and speaking about technology is something I always looked forward to. I had a vision – a plan in my head of how smoothly it would run and the number of schools we would visit during the first quarter of the year.
Man, was I so wrong!
At first, we spent most of our time writing to schools and following up, almost begging them to let us speak with their students. The story usually changes whenever they agree. We speak with the students and they, always, want us back.
The aim was to change the narrative, catching them young in the process. We wanted to not just introduce them to the various aspects and careers in tech, but also help them differentiate legal paths from illegal tech paths.
While we’ve been going to schools around Ibadan since mid-January to submit our request, we didn’t get to have the first event until February 24. It was at Oluyole Community Grammar School, Ibadan. The feedback from this school after the event got us elated. We created magic!
We spoke to hundreds of students, they were attentive and curious. It was beautiful to see them interested. It is important to drive the upcoming generation in the right direction; this was our mindset – the main reason why we didn’t stop with them.
We put more effort into going to more schools, submitting letters, and much more effort into following up with them. Currently, we’ve been to three schools (Oluyole Community Grammar School, Oluyole Estate Grammar School & Queen’s School Ibadan), with plans for much more to come. We have spoken to more than 500 students in these schools, set up an ICT club in one, and helped reboot the ICT club in another. We’ve volunteered over 50 hours to this cause and these students, mentoring them on three tracks – Graphics Design, Web Design and Technical Writing.
These activities achieved over five months and a week were planned for the first quarter of the year. We faced several challenges along the line, but the encouragement came from among ourselves, their teachers’ enthusiasm to see the students learn, and the students’ reactions each time we showed up at their school for the mentorship program.
The students are learning, the teachers are supportive, and the team couldn’t be more proud. Although late, we achieved our goals and we are pumped to achieve more.
Do you have any suggestions that can help this course? Or do you have a school that you want us to visit? Send a quick email to maryam@techpadi.africa and we’ll get on it.