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Two students, Iyad Taher and Tanvi Hirani, from the SCLP Samaj School have been crowned Young Scientists of the Year for showcasing the best innovation at the 2019 Young Scientist Kenya (YSK) National Science & Technology Exhibition.

Their winning innovation, a Universal Healthcare system, seeks to enable the government and relevant agencies to solve health-related challenges affecting the country. It is established in line with the governments big four agenda on Healthcare.

The two, from SCLP Samaj School, were among 500 students from all the 47 counties who submitted 235 groundbreaking projects and showcased them at the five days YSK exhibition. The exhibition was sponsored by Safaricom BLAZE and was held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).

They were closely followed by first runners up Sophia Ndunge and Brenda Nkara from Daraja Secondary School with their Homemade Lift pump. The innovation seeks to ease access to borehole water. The pump can be made at home with readily available material.

Showcased ideas at the exhibition were from Biology and Ecological sciences, Chemical, Physical and Mathematics Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences and Technology categories.

In its second year running, YSK has since scaled its programme from 10 counties in 2018 to all 47 counties in 2019, reaching a total of over 45,000 students across the country. The initiative is aimed at inspiring students to take STEM and pursue the STEM pathways through outreach, linkages, and extension programmes, and showcase their innovations for further research and commercialization.

The overall winners took home KES 100,000, a scholarship to Strathmore University, mobile phones from BLAZE, and a trip to Ireland to participate in the 2020 BT Young Scientists and Technology Exhibition. The first runners-up walked away with KES 80,000, mobile phones from BLAZE, and a fully paid trip to France.