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FGGC Akwa Ibom team wins FIRST LEGO LEAGUE National Championship 2020
BY: Sandra Ani
An all-girls team, Metra 101 from FGGC, Ikot Obio Itong, Akwa Ibom State, emerged overall Champions at FIRST LEGO LEAGUE (FLL) National Robotics Championship Competition 2020 as the grand finale held in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja over the weekend.
They scooped the top position by embodying the program’s Core Values of teamwork and mutual respect while achieving excellence and innovation in both robot game and innovative project.
FLL was brought to Nigeria by Coderina Education and Technology Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation and supported by SAP.
Other winners at the Championship are as follows:
1 Robot Design (2nd) Award – Tech Gears X
2 Against All Odds Award – FGGC, Bauchi
3 Mentor/Coach Award – FGGC, Kabba
4 Core Values Award – Airol Unilag
5 Robot Performance Award – Bred Hub
6. Glistobots – Robot Design – Glisten School
7. Robot Performance (2nd) – FSTC Orozo
8. Project Award – Technobots – Vivian Fowler School
To this end, the Federal Ministry of Education, (FMoE), indicated that from next year all the 104 Unity Schools will participate in the FIRST LEGO LEAGUE (FLL) National Robotics Championship Competition.
Excited by the ingenuities displayed by participating students, the Minister of State for Education, Honourable Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, speaking through the Permanent Secretary, Arch. Sonny Echono, disclosed that plans are underway for all the Unity Schools’ participation.
The sixth edition under the theme: “City Shaper”, was organised by Coderina in collaboration with the Ministry and the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) with supports from SAP; National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA; Irish Aid and the Baze University in Abuja.
The Minister said that the decision to allow all Unity Schools’ participation is aimed at strengthening critical and computational thinking among students.
Children from 6 to 18 years numbering about 1000 and 50 teachers drawn from 60 schools participated at year’s national championship with FGGC, Ikot Obio Itong, Akwa Ibom State emerged overall champion.
The Minister said, “This marks a significant first step in our work in ensuring the infusion of Coding in our school curricula to strengthen critical and computational thinking as a key skillset that students in Secondary Education must have. This will ensure that we broaden the base by making sure that the opportunities of this preparation are made possible today even though the manifestations of the series of efforts we are making now will come tomorrow.
“Our efforts are in line with Ministerial Strategic Plans, the SDGs 4; which is provision of quality education for all…The world of today and that of the foreseeable future is one where individuals move between digital domains and offline reality with the use of technology to enable and manage life”, he added.
On his part, the Director General of NITDA, Mr Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCIE, represented by the Director of eGovernment Development and Regulation (eGDR) Dr Vincent Olatunji earlier while delivering the keynote address said that NITDA is saddled with the responsibility of developing and regulating the use of Information Technology in the country, which has contributed immensely to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He said, “Building creative young minds will bring out the potentials embedded in the teeming youths, making them to have the basic Information Technology foundation at an early stage”.
According to the DG, “Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the fundamental pillars and the next oil of the nation that will playing a pivotal role towards the growth of the economy”.
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought about the concept of smart things, digital platforms and digital economy, stating that the difference between third and fourth industrial revolutions is the disruptive nature of the emerging technologies,” he added.
Mr. Olajide Ademola Ajayi, an IT Manager representing SAP, said “FIRST is a USA organisation while LEGO is an organization based in Denmark; FLL tournament is to help the young students to become task themselves and perform ‘missions’ during the competition. The fourth industrial revolution is upon us and innovators, thinkers and other with the requisite skills will think outside the box, and be able to find answers to real life issues within their communities.
Mr. Ajayi added that FLL tournament basically was to inspire young students to become engineers, technological experts, scientists, great thinkers and help them find solutions to real life issues in their communities.
The Chairman, Board of Trustees of Coderina Education and Technology Foundation, Mr. Femi Mr. Femi Niyi, told journalists that the competition is a culmination of weeks and months of learning activities, researching and discovery in science and technology in a hands- on experiential form, putting theories into practice which has made the participatory students to find an intersection between theory and practice.
According to him, “it is aimed at intensifying the penetration of Information Technology (IT) across the country, prepare youths adequately for the fourth (4th) industrial revolution and explore emerging technologies ranging from Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, Coding, Robotic and Bitcoin which is a requisite for the knowledge economy”.
Also speaking, the Director of Partnerships and Engagement at Coderina, Mr. Akinniyi Obaide, said, “We are not competing rather co-competing; a competition in corporation. We are not making the children feel they are jealous, because every presentation is different. There are different robots presented at this tournament; we can’t condemn any of them. It was only when we asked the students to perform tasks that we could pick-up the champions.
“When we are emphasising core-values, we are looking at how are the pupils/students behaving towards each other. What is their reaction towards other teams? Any team that decides to lend their battery to another team gets a mark. We are teaching them to develop team-work mindset; that you can actually rise by lifting others.
The Founder of Women in Technology in Nigeria (WITIN), Mrs Martha Alade, who was also in attendance expressed deep appreciation to Coderina and partners for empowering Nigerian Youths with such highly sought digital skills needed for thrive in the 4IR.
She remarked that at this pace of innovation showcased at the event, Nigeria would move up the global digital competitive index.
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News
The Peruvian Government Has Officially Classified Transgender, Nonbinary And Intersex People As “Mentally ill”
According to the country’s ministry of health, the controversial decision was made to ensure the country’s public health services could “guarantee full coverage of medical attention for mental health” for the trans community.
It also categorises “dual-role transvestitism,” “fetishistic transvestism,” and “other gender identity disorders” under the same bracket of mental illness.
The new law will change language in the Essential Health Insurance Plan (PEAS) to reflect the view of trans and intersex people as a mental health disorder.
Trans groups across Peru have loudly condemned the decision as a step backwards for the country’s already complex relationship with LGBTQ+ rights.
News
Math Teacher Accused Of Having Sex With 2 Students And Getting Pregnant For One Tearfully Reveals The Baby Was Taken Away From Her
The UK teacher who had a baby with an underage student while on trial for having sex with another teenage boy broke down in court after revealing her newborn baby girl had been “taken away” from her.
Manchester math teacher Rebecca Joynes, 30, sobbed to jurors over how her baby was taken “24 hours after being born” this past January — and now she only sees her for nine hours a week, Joynes told jurors on Monday, May 13, according to the Manchester Evening News.
“At the moment I have contact with her three times a week for three hours and that’s it,” she said through tears.
Joynes was arrested and released on bail on orders not to have unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 after allegedly grooming her pupil, known as Boy A in court, by buying him a $430 Gucci belt before bringing him to her apartment for unprotected sex.
She was suspended from school and eventually fired, but soon after, she began having a relationship with a 15-year-old boy, known in court as Boy B, whom she had a baby with in January.
Joynes, who has denied having sex with either boy when they were underage, told the court that when she learned of the allegations against her she had gone to the second boy in a “panic” and he deleted all of her phone’s content.
The former teacher denied having a sexual relationship with the second boy until after he turned 16 and she was already suspended from teaching.
According to her narration,
She said he had added her on Snapchat twice, which she only accepted the second time because she thought he “wanted to tell her something.”
Joynes said a friendship developed and he quickly became her “best friend” even though the boy would make flirtatious and sexualized comments toward her when he was drunk.
She told jurors that it wasn’t until after his 16th birthday that he messaged her saying “I’ve left school now” with a winky face.
After she received notice that she had been dismissed from her job, he went to her apartment, where following an emotional conversation, they had sex.
The two then entered a relationship that Joynes described as “quite toxic” telling the court how the teenager was “very controlling.”
After discovering she was pregnant, Joynes hid love notes for the boy to find around her apartment.
The notes eventually led to a piece of baby clothing that had the words “I love my daddy to the moon and back” written on it.
The court was told that she gave birth to their baby girl in January, but following an emergency court hearing, the newborn was taken away from Joynes.
Joynes has denied two counts of sexual activity with Boy A; two counts of sexual activity with Boy B; and two counts of sexual activity with Boy B while being a person in a position of trust.
Her trial is ongoing.
The first Man to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died two months after the operation.
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), which carried out the procedure in March, announced Sunday, May 12, that Richard “Rick” Slayman, 62, has died.
They said there was no indication his death was a result of the transplant.
Transplants of other organs from genetically modified pigs have failed in the past, but the operation on Mr Slayman, who was suffering with end-stage kidney disease, was hailed as a historic milestone.
In addition to kidney disease, Mr Slayman also suffered from Type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
In 2018, he had a human kidney transplant, but it began to fail after five years.
Following his pig kidney transplant on March 16, his doctors confirmed he no longer needed dialysis after the new organ was said to be functioning well.
“Mr Slayman will forever be seen as a beacon of hope to countless transplant patients worldwide and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation,” MGH said in a statement.
Xenotransplantation is the transplanting of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another.
MGH said it was “deeply saddened” at his sudden death and offered condolences to his family.
Mr Slayman’s relatives said his story was an inspiration.
“Rick said that one of the reasons he underwent this procedure was to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” they said.
“Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure forever.
“To us, Rick was a kind-hearted man with a quick-witted sense of humour who was fiercely dedicated to his family, friends, and co-workers,” they added.
While Mr Slayman received the first pig kidney to be transplanted into a human, it is not the first pig organ to be used in a transplant procedure.
Two other patients have received pig heart transplants, but those procedures were unsuccessful as the recipients died a few weeks later.
In one case, there were signs the patient’s immune system had rejected the organ, which is a common risk in transplants.
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