The Odyssey Educational Foundation is an NGO that works with children in Africa to offer a rich learning experience in robotics, computer programming and the four STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and maths. The foundation aims to encourage more children, especially girls, to think about pursuing science and technology careers.
The organisation was set up by Mrs Esther Uzochukwu-Denis in 2013, after she traveled to India to complete an MSc.She Set on pursuing a career in the telecommunications industry, she changed her mind when she discovered that school clubs in India taught children programming and provided extra STEM tuition. Inspired by the experience, she returned to Nigeria, determined to offer the same service to children.
Recently, Nigeria hosted the First Lego League challenge, facilitated by the foundation. In this international competition, students program Lego mini robots to achieve a specific task. This year more than 233,000 competitors from 81 countries took up the challenge titled Trash Trek.
It involved programming the robots to pick up and drop off pieces of garbage on a playing area, as well as demonstrating research projects related to the topic of waste.
The two schools presented projects involving recycling, waste disposal and solar energy for domestic use.
