Little innovates opportunities for boys and girls alike

Based in Gimu Phase 1 of Athi River estate in Nairobi, Little Innovators School is home to about 35 junior scholars all in their early years of education levels, (EYE). One thing stands out amazingly though, learners here are exposed to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics); entrepreneurship (innovating solutions to their society problems) and emerging technologies (robotics, coding, artificial intelligence among others). Opportunities here are available to boys and girls alike.

The school’s Director and Co-founder, Ms Nuru Luhindi, invited me to a free Robotics and coding fun day that goes down twice every month in different estates surrounding the school, called the GreatWall fun Day.

The school she tells me, has practiced this system of learning since 2014, adhering to CBC requirements that students acquire and show mastery of learning topics before moving on to the next level. She affirms to me that the activity is in line with the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) which recognizes that every child learns differently, and their learning should be personalized so they are engaged at all times.

“It is part of the school’s social responsibility since the fun days are targeted at creating awareness among parents and children on how emerging technologies are radically transforming the job market,” says Nuru.

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity as Nuru  explains it, started in August 2018, was inspired by a World Economic Forum (2018) report which asserts that by 2022, most careers as we know them today will have drastically transformed. The report further attests to the fact that 66% of children joining primary school now will end up in careers that do not exist.

“In its love for community, which is one of the school values, Little Innovators School felt obliged to avert a crisis in the community where households are caught unaware by the fourth industrial revolution,” explains a smiling Nuru.

At the GreatWall gardens free fun day, I meet a 4-year-old Pre-primary 2 girl, who like any other, cannot hide her excitement about her first ever LEGO design thinking project. The trainer from PlayPoint East Africa has given them a challenge to build a city as a team, using Lego play kits. The little girl like a majority here today, do not school at Little innovators.

“Unfortunately, many young learners go through rote learning which does not expose them to creativity and innovation opportunities that exploit their entrepreneurial or problem solving potential,” asserts Nuru.

Nuru notes that sharing is an art of caring thus invites young learners from across the area to attend the training, usually curated by coding experts to nurture the young and passionate guys into coding.

The next holiday camp shall be conducted on 28th and 29th Nov 2019 for ages 4 to 12 years for junior camp and 13 to 17 years for senior camp. Do not let your child miss out on this opportunity to develop their creativity for the fourth industrial revolution careers.

Nuru believes in innovation and holds it higher than she does excellence in exams and term papers which, she reminds me is important anyhow. The fun day started at 1pm through 5pm and had learners get to interact with lego play kits, Robotics and coding equipment courtesy of PlayPoint Education.

Fun days are absolutely free. However, we also offer Holiday Camps package incorporating robotics, coding, artificial intelligence, financial literacy and tae-kwo-ndo throughout the school holidays.

Intended to be a perpetual activity as creation of awareness is long term, the Little Innovators School welcomes junior learners to explore a world of opportunities in which they’re challenged to be the solvers of societal problems through STEM and emerging technologies.

The next camp runs from 28th Oct to 29th Nov at the school in Athi River. For details, parents can call the school on 0714532799.