Prabhath | Championing equal access to STEM education

Prabhath: There was a gap between the kids who were studying in Sri Lanka versus the kids in other developed markets. So we tried our best to see how we can bridge this gap with our own capacity, with our own strengths.

My name is Prabhath Mannapperuma, the founder and executive director of the STEMUP Educational Foundation. So we wanted to partner up with Raspberry Pi Foundation or Code Club and establish coding clubs across the country, because equal opportunity is not there for all the students in Sri Lanka when it comes to computer science education and coding, AI and other emerging technologies.

The inspiration behind this initiative is also the area I lived, because I'm coming from 100km away from the city, Colombo. When you look at the Sri Lankan education system only 3% of the students who are facing advanced level get an opportunity to enter a national university. It's a very small amount. So we initiated our first Code Club in this library, Colombo Public Library, with a couple of our friends and we got really good feedback from parents.

Somehow, even though we started with four of my friends, it expanded to 1,500 volunteers. The main challenge we see here today, when it comes to graduate students: they have the technology skills, but they don't have soft skills. But by being a volunteer, I think that a particular student can gain all 360 degree knowledge. Like we're trying to build a complete graduate or complete human being out of our programme as a volunteer.

Kasun: Talking about Prabhath and his support is a huge thing to me. Starting off I get experience in public speaking, how to interact with the people, how to organise events and how to run those things and how to work with tech publishers in the industry. So it feels great to me, and it gives me a self-satisfaction that it's something I'm doing great.

Prabhath: When I was joining Raspberry Pi Foundation Asia partner summit, I was able to join Coolest Projects Malaysia. That was the first Coolest Projects I saw and then I came back here shared this story with our board and other fellow volunteers and they all were really keen to do the same thing. The biggest hope we have for these students who are attending the Coolest Projects Sri Lanka 2024 will be getting their eyes open, and making this a turning point of their life.

I heard in one rural area four or five schools have got together, they have hired a bus and came to attend the event. I mean, that kind of energy, because they don't have these opportunities to showcase what they have built, connect with like-minded people, connect with the industry, I think that's a really unique opportunity kids are having, particularly in Sri Lanka, because we don't have similar events happening in the country. So this is a really new experience for them.

Creator: I’m 11 years old. This is my innovation, its name is automatic floor cleaning robot. It can automatically sense and overcomes obstacle on its path. Our program is helping kids and the next generation in many ways: attracting kids to public libraries, getting our university volunteers to train them, support them, because they are also would love to give back to the community and then the students can learn about emerging technologies, get their hands on experience totally free of charge and have amazing experience.

So I think that’s where organisations like STEMUP in partnership with Raspberry Pi Foundation Code Club, these programmes are really helpful for kids to win the future and be better citizens, knowledgeable citizens and bring this country forward