In Togo’s capital, Lomé, a summer coding camp is giving children hands-on experience with robotics, programming and artificial intelligence, with organisers hoping to raise a new generation of African tech innovators.
At the Digital School Summer Camp, roughly 20 children are learning by building rather than just watching. Fourteen-year-old Winner Koudjra is already assembling a robotic hand from motors, pliers and electronic circuits, describing how the programme has taught her about the role of technology and the inner workings of devices like the one she is building.
Later the same day, Winner swaps hardware for software, working on modifying a webpage to build a simple form of artificial intelligence, with ambitions to eventually design her own website.
Beyond the technical skills, the school is also working to close the gender gap in African tech. According to UNESCO, women make up only about 35 percent of STEM graduates worldwide and roughly a quarter of professionals in data and AI fields. The camp offers grants to children from low-income families and actively encourages girls to engage with technology early.
Lomé Digital School director Got’liebe Bataba said the aim is to expose girls to these tools from a young age so the sector no longer has to play catch-up on the shortage of women in digital fields, adding that the programme is equally focused on nurturing critical thinking beyond pure technical skill.
Parent Vanessa Lawson, whose child is enrolled in the programme, praised the initiative for introducing children to technology at such an early stage of their education.
Source: africanews.com