Kigali, Saturday 4^th March 2023, the first-ever edition of FIRST LEGO League (FLL) in Rwanda has successfully concluded, with over 350 students participating in the competition. The event, held at the Intare Arena, Kigali, was organized by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of ICT and Innovation, Coderina Education and Technology Foundation, STEM inspires, and supported by UNESCO Rwanda, FIRST, LEGO Foundation, LEGO Education, and GIZ-Rwanda.

FIRST LEGO League is an international robotics competition for students aged 9-16 that aims to inspire young people to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. The competition challenges teams to design, build, and program autonomous robots using LEGO kits to complete a set of missions on a themed playing field.

The theme for this year's competition was "SUPERPOWERED," which focused on finding innovative solutions to real-world problems related to energy. The participating teams worked tirelessly for months, designing and building robots that could complete tasks such as pumping oil, transporting fuel units to a filling station, loading energy into an energy storage bin, and distributing energy units. They also practiced FIRST Core Values of Discovery, Innovation, Teamwork, Inclusion, Impact, and Fun.

Speaking in the event , Hon. Minister of State in charge of Primary and Secondary Education, Gaspard Twagirayezu said: “To our champions, congratulations! Well done. The challenges you solved using robots and code exemplify the real world we live in. We are all impressed by the way you demonstrated such remarkable creativity and ingenuity in tackling these tasks. As we all know, the world is constantly evolving, and so are the challenges we face. We can only anticipate that these challenges will become even more complex as time goes on.”  

He continued by saying that the good news is that we will also have access to better and more robust tools to help us tackle these challenges head-on. It is our duty to equip you, our youth, with the necessary skills to take advantage of these opportunities. He underlined.

“This is an opportunity we must seize, and we owe it to you. As a result, we will be enhancing our science, elementary, and ICT courses in upper primary and secondary schools to include coding and robotics. Our competence-based curriculum aims to develop our students' ability to think creatively and solve problems. Today's event has demonstrated that there is no better way to do this than through robotics and coding.” He noted.

The Coordinator of FLL and Founder of Coderina, Olajide Ade Ajayi, added, "Learning to code and work with robotics is not just about preparing students for the future job market; it's about developing their critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity skills. By empowering students with these tools, we're setting them up for success in all areas of life and enabling them to become active creators of technology rather than passive consumers. The enthusiasm and dedication shown by the participating teams are a testament to the potential of the young people in Africa."

Hon. Minister of  ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire, encourages students who participated to continue being curious as it nurtures their ingenuity: "As young people, you have to wholeheartedly embrace the digital era and its promising opportunities in new areas such as robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and others, Digital Skills are increasingly becoming the foundation of all jobs."

Amelia Wyler, the founder of STEM Inspires, stresses, "having participated in FIRST LEGO League in the USA as a student, it feels good to pay forward the opportunity by starting teams in Rwanda to benefit the young people in the country."

The winning team, is Maranyundo Girls School impressed the judges with their innovative robot design and problem-solving approach. The team will now represent Rwanda at the international Open of FIRST LEGO League, which will take place in May 2023 in Morocco.

The success of the first-ever edition of FIRST LEGO League in Rwanda has set the stage for future competition editions. In addition, it underscores the importance of STEM education in the country.