The impact of Education 5.0 heritage-based model is being felt even at primary school level as pupils are already finding solutions to challenges facing their respective communities.
Jahunda Primary school pupils from Gwanda, the winners of the ”Robo Starter Elementary title at the Zimbabwe World Robotics Championship held in Bulawayo recently, have found a solution to the problem of stock theft. The pupils have designed an application meant to curb stock theft which they have named “Smart Kraal Guard.”
The application is an automatic, low cost system built to protect livestock which is a direct response to the increasing cases of stock theft especially in Matabeleland region where most farmers are into livestock farming.
According to the pupils, the system uses smart sensors to detect movement, triggers bright lights and a piercing alarm to scare away wild animals and other intruders like stock thieves.
The system instantly alerts the farmer through a signal. They always say ‘catch them young’ and this is what is happening at Jahunda Primary School where pupils are being encouraged to come up with innovative solutions to challenges facing their communities.
Livestock farmers in Matabeleland will sleep soundly once they start using this system as their livestock will be protected against both wild animals and stock thieves at night. Kimberly Saguni (Grade 4), Amanda Mathema (Grade 5) and Nobuhle Sibanda Grade 6) who are members of Jahunda Primary School Robotics Club, are the innovation champions that have found a solution to a problem that has for years caused Matabeleland farmers sleepless nights. The application is not only relevant to farmers in
Matabeleland but to all livestock farmers across the country.
The breakthrough is worth celebrating moreso that it is a product of primary school pupils with limited materials and tools at their disposal. The Smart Kraal Guard is obviously an inspiration to the other primary and secondary school pupils and should also spur students from institutions of higher learning to do even more.
What is encouraging is that the country is now enjoying the fruits of the new education system whose thrust is to churn out graduates that produce goods and services that meet the needs of communities.
The Jahunda pupil’s Smart Kraal Guard is a confirmation that the new education system has been embraced from primary school right up to universities and colleges. Our universities and colleges across the country are coming up with ground-breaking innovations that are benefiting communities and in some cases substituting imports thereby saving the country the much-needed foreign currency.
In a bid to accelerate the country’s industrialisation programme, Government has funded the establishment of innovation hubs at universities and colleges.
What is exciting is that even our primary school pupils have not been left behind as they are coming up with their own innovations to address challenges facing their respective communities. Universities and colleges should technically support, nurture and mentor these young innovators at primary school so that their innovations can be commercialised.
