Eight schools from Nigeria, three other countries for 2023 Sahara STEAM programme

Sahara Group has announced the commencement of this year’s edition of its Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) educational programme for students in Africa.

The programme, known as Sahara STEAMers programme will run concurrently in four countries and feature eight schools from Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Igbobi College, Yaba, Nigeria, emerged the overall champion of the debut edition last year, while St Peter’s Naalya Secondary School, Uganda and Olympic High School, Nairobi, Kenya won the second and third positions, respectively.

The programme is domiciled under the Sahara Group Foundation, the company’s social responsibility arm and designed to inspire, equip and empower young African students with the practical knowledge, skills and innovative mindset required to proffer solutions to the societal problems affecting the continent.

Speaking about the programme at this year’s launch, the Director of Sustainability and Governance, Sahara Group Foundation, Ejiro Gray, said the foundation is partnering STEMCafe, a non-linear learning centre, to jointly bring the objective of the programme to realisation.

The objective, according to her, is to create an opportunity for young people, especially in schools to have access to world-class laboratories and participate in a deep dive learning experience as well as to get immersed in a practical classroom that will inspire them to tackle prevalent challenges within their communities.

She explained in a statement that participants are expected to engage in a series of practical workshops, vision boarding exercises and mentoring sessions with the STEMCafe trainers and Sahara foundation staff volunteers.

Ejiro said the programme is aligned with the group’s commitment to promoting sustainable development in Africa by helping to raise a new generation of social innovators capable of accelerating Africa’s development.

Founder, STEMCafe, Bosun Tijani, stated that the partnership had given STEMCafe the opportunity to introduce young secondary school students in Africa to STEAM education and its application towards solving real-life problems.

He challenged this year’s participants to use the programme to acquire skills that will set them on an inspiring and ambitious pathway.