On Saturday 18 December 2021, VVOB together with the Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) and Rwanda Coding Academy (RCA) celebrated the end of the first Scratch coding cycle in Kayonza district. During this day, the winning projects from 12 sectors competed in the Scratch hackathon at district level. It was a festive and inspiring day for all participants alike.
This day was part of the Scratc²h 2050 Project, this project is funded by Belgium through the Wehubit programme implemented by Enabel. The aim of the project is to improve the relevance of secondary STEM education and strengthen the link with the world of work by supporting STEM and ICT teachers in Kayonza district to set up after-school coding clubs in their schools. It is a two-year pilot project that is implemented from the 1st of July 2020 – 30th of June 2022.
The first Scratch hackathon
At the end of the first coding club cycle in December 2021, learners were invited to compete in the Scratch hackathon competition. The competition started at the club level, to school level, continued at the sector level and finished at the district level, through the celebration of a Scratch Day.
Twelve teams of learners pitched and demonstrated their projects to other teams and a selection committee consisting of representatives of REB and RCA. They evaluated the projects on three criteria (coding skills, creativity, and presentation skills) and tested learners through challenging questions.
The winning teams
Scratch Day is a celebration of coding. Therefore, all learners and teachers were rewarded. “You are all winners, you all did an amazing job,” said Benjamin Karenzi, CEO of Zorabots in Rwanda. After acknowledging all learners and teachers, the winning teams were announced.
Tresor Ingeri from E.S. Kayonza Modern is awarded third place. In his project, he tried to help learners understand the physics behind the concept of motion. The jury appreciated the integration of Physics in Scratch as well as the students’ problem-solving skills.
The second-place winners are Bertin Dusenge and Francois Habimana from E.S. Kabarondo. They made a project integrating different games on STEM subjects (Physics, Chemistry and Geography) to make studying these subjects more fun. The jury especially liked how the students integrated educational purposes in the games and students’ creativity.
The winning team of the first Scratch hackathon are James Kwizera, Angel Ingabire and Kelly Murigo from New Life Christian academy. They made an animated video on the spread and prevention of Covid-19. The project highlights and emphasizes the measures to prevent continuous spread of Covid-19 and other diseases. The jury appreciated the strong technical skills (e.g. using Graphics Interchange Formats), team work and confidence during the presentation. The winning team was awarded by Zorabots with a Marty robot for their school. Marty the Robot is a humanoid robot designed for educators and learners to learn coding and to make STEM engaging and accessible. In addition, the team members are given the opportunity to join a two-week Zorabot camp. During this camp, students can enhance their coding skills and explore a career in technology.
“Scratch is a very friendly coding language that is fun, easy to use and produces greater results. My dream is to participate in cyber security and robotics. Scratch is here to open my mind so that I can know more about Robotics and be open to the world of coding and programming,” said James Kwizera a student at New Life Christian academy and member of the winning team.
The way forward – Coding club cycle 2
After awarding the learners, some teachers reflected on the first coding club cycle and the way forward. It was beautiful to get the perspective of the motivated teachers, who are ready to run many more coding clubs. This is for sure a promising sign on the sustainability of the Scratch project.
“During the first coding cycle it struck me that my students know more about coding than me. The students were motivated and creative enough, so I only needed them to give some guidance and be a facilitator. The learners do it themselves. I am more than prepared for the next coding cycle and I know many students are eagerly awaiting,” said teacher Froduald Hakizimana.
According to Jean Damascene Harerimana, the Vice Mayor in Kayonza district, the district leadership is thankful to the partners that promote quality education through enhancing the skills of teachers to support children. “The Scratch project encourages children to love sciences and think critically about providing solutions to issues affecting our community. For example, one group did a project that can be implemented to sensitize people to fight Covid-19 and this is their contribution to fight the pandemic using Scratch,” he said.
Caritas Kaniziyo, One Laptop per Child (OLPC) trainer at REB said: “coding is about cooperation, creativity, problem-solving and innovation. These are 21st Century skills all learners in Rwanda need to enter the digital age. This project is helping learners to thrive in a digital economy and opens doors for careers in technology”. Ms Kaniziyo also thanked all learners and teachers for the challenging but awarding coding journey. She called for all learners to be ambassadors and engage their friends into the coding clubs at their school. “Let’s combine forces, let’s do it together,” she said.
