The Young Scientists Kenya (YSK) has announced that the National Science and Technology Exhibition will be held on 6th – 9th August 2019 at KICC. It will be held in partnership with the Ministry of Education, The Embassy of Ireland and BLAZE by Safaricom.
Over 500 students from across Kenya will present their science and technology projects at the national exhibition. This will be a markup from last year where 160 students presented 92 projects.
The expanded high school outreach was a response to a challenge from YSK Patron, H.E President Uhuru Kenyatta, during the inaugural Exhibition last year. He tasked the YSK organising team to roll out the program across the country as part of a national effort to make Kenya a leader in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
The National Exhibition is part of the YSK mandate to spur innovation among students in Kenya. This effort complements that of the Ministry of Education, which holds the annual Secondary Schools Science Congress, now known as Kenya Science and Engineering Fair (KSEF).
With this year’s theme being Making STEM education accessible to all, YSK has since March, been conducting outreach activities in secondary schools around the country aimed at engaging students to take up STEM courses.
BLAZE has sponsored the high school outreach programme and national exhibition to a tune of Ksh. 45 million in cash and kind.
In 2018, Wilson Irungu and Abdulrahman Sheikh Ali from Nakuru High School were the winners of the science contest with a revolutionary Internet-based energy monitoring and audit system concept. As a result of their victory, Irungu and Ali got a chance to go on a fully paid trip to Ireland to participate in the BT-Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition between 9th and 12th January 2019.