An expert in Machine Learning, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, Mrs Khadijat Ladoja, has underscored the need to create awareness on the benefits of artificial intelligence.
Mrs Ladoja, the organiser of Oyo Robotics Competition in collaboration with the Oyo State Government, gave the advice on Sunday in Ibadan in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
She said that the Oyo State Government, through the Ministry of Education, gave approval for 24 public schools to train on robotics and to participate in the competition.
The event, which started on Feb. 15, had schools drawn from Ibadan, Ogbomoso, Oyo, Otu and Ago-Are.
Mrs Ladoja said that successful participants in the ongoing competition would be part of a zonal competition slated for June.
The robotic expert said the winner at the zonal level would represent the state at the National and World Virtual Robotics Competitions billed for by September and November respectively.
According to her, robotics helps students to understand concepts in their studies, thereby avoiding cramming.
Ladoja pointed out that encouraging pupils, right from the primary school, to view the sciences as easy subjects would make many of them to take to the sciences and enable them to explore robotics and artificial intelligence for the development of Nigeria.
She pointed out that most parents, whose children attend public schools, were not aware of the immense opportunities in robotics and artificial intelligence and what that could mean for their children’s future.
“There is a generation that is not even aware of what robotics is, so there is a gap. The parents who are to guide their children to say this is what the world is doing now are not even aware of what robotics entails”.
“And that is the motive for the current Oyo robotics competition; that we need to do a form of sensitisation so that people can be aware of opportunities in robotics and they can begin to explore it right from now”.
“In Oyo State, those who had been able to participate are mainly from the private schools and the number is very few when compared with the population of the youth in Oyo State,” she said.
Mrs Ladoja said although robotic training might be capital intensive for individuals, collaboration with others would lessen the financial burden.
Beyond granting permission to public schools to participate in the robotic training and competition, Ladoja called for more collaboration with the Oyo State Government in the area of funding.
She said this would go a long way to transform the education of the state and Nigeria at large. (NAN)
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