Students urged to see themselves as tech innovators in robotics drive

A national robotics competition aims to inspire young people to lead in innovation and technological development, with Minister of Educational Transformation Chad Blackman emphasising the importance of nurturing a future-ready generation that will shape the island’s and the world’s technological future.

As the Battle of the Bots robotics competition, hosted in partnership with the Barbados Light and Power Co. Ltd, was launched to reporters on Wednesday, Blackman challenged young students to critically analyse societal issues and find creative, technology-driven solutions.

“My challenge to you, irrespective of how young you are or how old you are, is to see yourself as the next creator of the next big wave of some piece of technology that can solve any challenge anywhere in the world, starting from Barbados,” he said.

“The Ministry of Educational Transformation and the Government of Barbados, partnering of course with private sector inventors like this, is working to ensure that you have the space to shape your future. Part of that transformation also requires us to get into the minds of our young people that they can do anything their mind can conceive.”

Blackman stressed that the government’s education reform agenda extends beyond improving infrastructure and providing better resources for teachers.

“What is this transformation agenda about? It is not just about, of course, ensuring that we have modern infrastructure. Is it about also ensuring that teachers have the best tools at their disposal to continue delivering quality training and education? Yes, but whilst those things are necessary, it’s not sufficient.”

“What we’re trying to do here is ensure that these young people can lead the world.”

He said the government’s transformation agenda must prepare the next generation to compete globally, even as Barbados continues to lead on international discussions surrounding sustainability and financial reform.

“We’re right now leading the world in conversations on key areas of sustainability and climate, transforming the global financial architecture — which was created out of Bretton Woods institutions after World War I and World War II — at a time when we were not sovereign states or even countries,” he noted.

“The challenge for this generation, these young people, is to create a future where you will be required to lead it and to compete against your counterparts in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, North America, Asia, and the Arab world. Once you see yourselves as the future designers of things… robots, businesses, cars, you name it — there’s nothing stopping young Barbadians from doing that.”

Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw described the robotics initiative as more than a competition but part of a broader movement to reshape learning through technology and innovation.

She said: “What is happening here today and for the rest of the year isn’t just launching a competition. We are launching a movement — a movement that started in 2021 with the first set of robotic kits that we put into schools.”

That movement, she explained, has seen approximately 733 teachers trained in robotics and coding, alongside nearly 4 700 students from nursery to secondary level engaged in hands-on learning.

“This represents a shift away from the static learning that exists in our schools towards a dynamic ecosystem, where students build, test, make mistakes, try again, and ultimately succeed through the power of teamwork,” Dr Archer-Bradshaw said.

She added that robotics and coding encourage students to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world challenges.

“This is about engaging our students in real-life problem solving through project-based learning. It is a space where theory meets practice and imagination meets engineering,” she said. “The beauty of this coding and robotics is that it creates a mindset. Students understand that what they’re learning in the classroom isn’t only about passing an exam, but about solving a real problem — building a robot to help us in the technological world.”

This year’s Battle of the Bots competition has expanded its reach, with 26 primary school teams participating in the preliminaries held at Queen’s College in October.

Sixteen primary and eight secondary school teams will advance to the finals, scheduled for December 2 at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

(SB)