A new generation of Libyans is finally rising after the dark hours of the Gaddafi years. A wind of change is slowly rising, particularly at the high-tech level.
Youssef Jira, an 18-year-old high school student, is among those seeking to create new momentum in the field. This, thanks to a robotics competition organized in Tripoli. He is therefore participating in the event in Sarraj and intends to make sure to bring other inventive people along in his wake. He is not the only one to wish for a remodeling of a society which has been largely damaged.
A new educational breath
Even if the global (or rather American) craze for robotics seems to be experiencing a somewhat asthmatic phase, in Libya, we do not experience things in the same way. The Libyan education system, under Gaddafi’s reign, was mainly self-centered and encouraged excessive glorification of the regime.
Nothing really surprising about that. Numerous crises have hampered the smooth running of school programs. Very recently, initiatives are starting to resurface. This is the case, for example, for that of Mohamed Zayed, who works for a private international school in Tripoli. The objective is to re-mobilize the entrepreneurial spirit around a trendy sector for students: robotics.
Inclusion and innovation at the heart of change
In Tripoli, this competition also presents other saving virtues: it is a real microcosm of diversity and represents an aspiration for change for many young people. If including marginalized people, people with disabilities or immigrants in this type of initiative is rather common in our country, in Libya, it is not the same lemonade. Talent incubators promoted by young people are far from usual in Land of Sands.
Shadrawan Khalfallah, a 17-year-old girl, decided to take part in this robotics competition because she is convinced of the potentially beneficial effects of this technology on the climate context. For her, it is also an opportunity to “ put girls forward. There weren’t many girls besides us, so we created this team to help society evolve and show that we exist. “. A courageous speech when we know that Libyan women live in a very restrictive socio-cultural context, even if the Gaddafi regime allowed them to obtain certain rights.
Libya is certainly experiencing a phase of transition towards digital, while oil has been one of the crucial elements on which the country’s development has relied since the 1950s. A bygone era, where the adoption and development of these new technologies become a real means of expression in addition to a tool.
Source : The world
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