ICT students from across the Sub-Saharan Africa region celebrated a strong showing at the global final of the 8th Huawei ICT Competition held in Shenzhen, China from May 23-26.
Kenya had six teams join the Huawei Global Competition and two network track teams won Global first track.
Further, Kenya is the country that had the most teams from the region with a total of 16 teams and emerged with the most prizes than any other country in the region including; First Prize: Kenya Network Team 1, Kenya Network Team 2, Second Prize: Kenya Computing Team 1, Third Prize: Kenya Cloud Team 1, Kenya Cloud Team 2, Kenya Computing Team 2, and finally the Women in Tech Award: Kenya Cloud Team 2
In a press statement sent to news rooms, the 2023-2024 ICT Competition circuit attracted more than 170,000 students from over 2,000 universities and colleges across more than 80 countries and regions, making it the largest offline competition since its launch in 2015.
More than 160 teams consisting of over 470 contestants from 49 different countries and regions reached the global final in Shenzhen, having previously been successful in their respective national and regional competitions.
The Principal Secretary (PS) State Department for TVET Dr. Esther Thaara Muoria, commented on the global final: “When you stay in your country you compete with others within your area, within your space, but when it is an international event like this, you are gearing up to meet on an international stage, and therefore you are striving to not only be the best in your environment but to be the best on the globe.”
Dr Muoria added that it was a good thing for Huawei to think about a way of encouraging students.
She continued, “Me, as a practical educator – an educator who wants students to work on practical skills – I am very impressed by this because I encourage students work on a real situation basis…that is why for Huawei to organize a competition like this one where the students know they are not only working to have the knowledge in their space but also to practice it out while competing with others, is a very noble idea and it is an idea that I really think Huawei is doing so great at and we as a country are very impressed.”
At the ceremony, Kenya School of TVET was awarded a new Huawei Instructor Support Centre in Kenya, where it will function as a centre for ICT Cutting edge technologies training for TVET teachers in Kenya.
Meanwhile, at the closing and awarding ceremony, the President of Huawei’s Institute of Strategic Research Zhou Hong told the finalists to make sure everyone could truly enjoy the benefits of digitalization while such technologies were making radical progress, adding that Huawei believes it is crucial to guarantee that digital technologies are accessible to all.
On the same day, Huawei also held the ICT Accelerating Education Transformation Summit where the Company awarded 24 instructors the title Huawei ICT Academy Global Most Valuable Instructor for the first time.
This award aims to show gratitude for the important contributions these instructors have made to talent development, mark them as role models that show how the brightest minds can develop, and also help drive sustainable development of the ICT talent ecosystem.
The Huawei ICT Competition is an annual contest held by Huawei for global university and college students and aims to provide students with an international platform for healthy competition and the exchange of ideas.
The competition has helped students enhance their ICT knowledge and practical skills, while also increasing their ability to innovate by using new technologies and platforms where the ultimate goal is to advance technological development and facilitate digital inclusion around the world.
By Michael Omondi
