By DayakDaily Team
MIRI, July 30: Twelve-year-old Penan girl Somisellnia Zachary whose heart beats for aeroplanes, nurturing a dream to become a pilot, recently took part in her first robotics and coding programme at ‘Petrosains Tech4All Programme’ at SK Long Bedian here.
To get there, she braved a long and tough journey over unpaved roads and river crossings at Pangkalan Perahu, spanning nine hours from SK Long Sait to Miri, and an additional 3 hours and 30 minutes to SMK K11 Long Bedian.
Somisellnia is the eldest of four siblings. Her father works as a labourer while her mother cares for their home in Kampung Long Kerong.
Despite challenges like occasional power outages during her studies, Somisellnia’s determination remains unshaken.
“I am interested in robotics, and I hope there will be more programmes like this as it helps us to understand the topic better,” she said, according to a press release issued by Petrosains today.
Somisellnia’s teacher Joshua Arry, who also joined the programme for the first time, stated that this would help to ignite students’ passion towards STEM due to its hands-on and interactive learning approach.
“I hope this new experience will encourage our Indigenous students to continue to pursue studies and careers related to STEM, as there is high demand for these skills in the workforce of the future,” he shared.
The ‘Petrosains Tech4All Programme’ is organised by Petrosains, in collaboration with IIUM Roboteam, supported by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Sarawak Education Department (JPNS).
According to the press release, this is part of Petrosains’ social impact initiative as it celebrates 25 years of inspiring discovery in science.
The three-day interactive workshops aimed at equipping students with fundamental computer skills and robotics knowledge, benefited 24 Indigenous students from the Penan, Kayan, Kenyah, Bidayuh and Iban ethnic groups across eight primary schools in Sarawak.
The programme concluded with a robotics competition, with the team from SK Long Sait, Baram winning the competition and earning the opportunity to represent Sarawak in the upcoming Karnival Pendidikan Orang Asli dan Peribumi Kebangsaan and Petrosains RBTX Challenge 2024 in the “Indigenous Culture & Technology” category. — DayakDaily
