BeginIT Project Trains Underserved kids on IT Skills

Nosa Alekhuogie

BeginIT, a social educational project spearheaded by inDrive, has completed a one-day training program for the less privileged children in Nigeria with Information Technology (IT) skills. 

The BeginIT program is an initiative from inDrive targeted at identifying and providing future career guidance for capable children from orphanages, boarding schools, and rural schools in the sphere of new technologies.

Thirty-three students drawn from three schools owned by not-for-profit organizations, were groomed on different technologies, including Embedded Systems (Physical Computing with Arduino kit).

At the end of the session, the students presented projects to demonstrate their ability to identify solutions relative to transportation in their environment.

In his remarks, the Director of Transport Operations, Lagos Ministry of Transportation, Olasunkanmi Ojowuro, who represented the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, commended inDrive for the initiative, which he said would go a long way to bring about innovations needed to transform not only the transportation sector but other sectors in the state.

“Whatever you learnt, make sure you take it seriously because the more you understand, the better for us all. So, it is good to seize this opportunity as kids so that Nigeria can match up with technological advancement as it is in many developed societies. For instance, transportation has changed from what we witnessed in the past. Now, we use technology to manage transportation,” Ojowuro said.

Speaking on the theme, ‘inDrive: Future of Mobility’, InDrive’s BeginIT Representative and Driver Acquisition specialist, Mrs. Clementina Onuzulike, explained that the initiative, which has registered its presence in 15 countries, including Nigeria, was focused at catching kids young in the field of technology to stimulate their problem-solving skills and prepare them for the future of work. 

“We believe strongly in the potential of every child regardless of the circumstance of their birth. We feel they need to get the knowledge in time to ensure that they can compete with their counterparts in the developed world. This is why we have come up with an initiative to enable them to reach their potential”, Onuzulike said.

She stated that the training would further help to deepen knowledge around transportation and automobiles by helping to groom a new generation of engineers, designers and creatives. 

Also speaking, the Programme Associate, STEMCafe, Daye Omona, said: “The organisation is partnering with inDrive on the initiative to impart the kids by implementing a STEM-based program focused on the future of transportation.”

Omona further said the training session would afford the kids the opportunity to learn concepts such as design thinking, conceptualization, and working with microcontrollers and sensors necessary to create, for example, a driverless car or blue tooth control boat.