Scaling STEM education in Rwanda


Goal: Support GGAST teachers and students as they further their design, presentation, and computational thinking skills.

 

Background: In Rwanda, 97% of girls go to primary school, but less than 34% attend upper secondary school and only 8% graduate. Secondary school capacity is very limited, allowing only the girls with the highest test scores to attend. Even for a bright girl who is qualified to attend, she may face obstacles to success and graduation – including household responsibilities, family support and/or safety concerns.

 

Sitting under Rwanda Girls Initiative (RGI), Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology (GGAST) is an upper-secondary girls’ boarding school located in the Bugesera District, an hour south of the capital city of Kigali. The school is dedicated to educating and empowering girls of Rwanda to reach their highest potential. As a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) school, GGAST has an unwavering commitment to excellence and innovation in nurturing students to become national leaders.

 

Partner: In partnership with Team4Tech, 11 corporate volunteers from Adobe and Autodesk traveled to Gashora, Rwanda in December of 2019 to work with GGAST. During the project, the team supported GGAST teachers and students in furthering their design, presentation, and computational thinking skills.

 

Project: In partnership with Team4Tech, 11 corporate volunteers from Adobe and Autodesk traveled to Gashora, Rwanda in December of 2019 to work with GGAST. During the project, the team supported GGAST teachers and students in furthering their design, presentation, and computational thinking skills.

  • Team4Tech had the honor of presenting the winner of Team4Tech’s student storytelling contest with her prize – a new, fully loaded laptop. The winner graduated from GGAST in 2019 and is hoping to use her laptop to study computer science with a focus on robotics. Having grown up working in the fields with her father, she plans to create agricultural robots to support farmers in the particularly challenging, hilly areas of Rwanda.
  • Through Team4Tech’s workshops, teachers and students created animated 3D solar systems, websites that highlighted and shared their passions, and Micro:bit programs to solve local community issues.
  • This Team4Tech project also enabled the deep generosity of our corporate sponsors: For GGAST’s computer labs, Adobe donated Creative Cloud licenses and Autodesk installed Fusion360 licenses. Teachers and students are thrilled to be able to continue applying their newly learned knowledge and skills.