The most important IT projects from the Cahul region were presented within Tekwill Expo Day, organised with the EU and Team Europe support
63 teachers, students and entrepreneurs from the Cahul region participated in Tekwill Expo Day, where Tekwill community celebrated 5 years of activity. They presented the most innovative and daring projects, many of which are already implemented or used in the educational process, but also in the business activities from the south of the country.
The exhibition brought together the winners of the “Tekwill Junior Ambassadors” competition, who developed digital products, as well as the winners of the “Cahul Hacks for Sustainable Goods”, which took place in the southern region of the country within the “EU4Moldova: Startup City Cahul’. They all received laptops, mobile phones and smart watches awards.
“Although it was difficult for us to choose the topic, we decided to create a project that does not exist in Moldova. Thus, we thought of making household waste useful for both the environment and society, and we addressed the issue of biogas i.e., the transformation of waste into alternative fuel. We worked strategically as a team, made some research and created the project, which helped us to develop as personalities and to contribute to the protection of the environment.” said Nicoleta Onuța, member of the Ecogaz team from Cantemir town, ranked 3rd in the “Tekwill Junior Ambassadors” competition.
Also, Tekwill Expo Day was a suitable opportunity to announce the 25 schools which were selected for the “Digital School” initiative. These institutions will follow a complex digital programme under the guidance of international education partners and the local team of experts.
The beneficiary institutions from the Cahul region are: i) “Constantin Spataru” Theoretical Lyceum from Leova town, ii) “Dmitrie Cantemir” Theoretical Lyceum from Cantemir town, iii) “Mihai Eminescu” Gymnasium from Cantemir town, iv) “Ivan Vazov” Theoretical Lyceum from Taraclia town, v) “Mihail Sadoveanu” Theoretical Lyceum from Cahul, Giurgiulesti village, vi) “Alexei Mateevici” Theoretical Lyceum from Cahul, Alexandru Ioan Cuza village.
Various workshops were organised for all age groups and the beneficiaries of the programmes presented the products and technologies developed and implemented by Tekwill throughout the country. Among them are drones, competition robots, aerodynamic cars, and different applications.
Several officials participated in the Expo Day, including the President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu.
“The biggest challenge is to involve all children from the Republic of Moldova in these interesting learning methods as it will be the best way to really see the potential of our country and the human potential of the Republic of Moldova. But we cannot reform education without ensuring access to information technologies and integrating them into the teachers’ work and the pupils and students’ daily activity of learning. We have an extraordinary human potential, but we should value it, invest and offer equal opportunities for all”, declared Maia Sandu, the President of the Republic of Moldova.
“Digitalization is no longer something elitist, it is part of our everyday life. It is the way we interact, communicate and develop our lives in general … I noticed a very high demand for the development of the IT sector, which, in fact, is an enormous opportunity for the Republic of Moldova. With a financial support of 6.8 million euro, we managed to include the city of Cahul in the digitalization actions of Moldova”, stated Jānis Mažeiks, Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova.
The officials noted the progress made in the Republic of Moldova in the digital field.
“We have seen how the vision become reality. Tekwill is now all over the country, we see laboratories, hubs and centres in Chisinau, but also in Balti, Cahul and Comrat. We have seen girls and women doing programming, working online, we have seen teachers inspiring students through Tekwill initiatives in schools, supporting them to learn programming languages, create apps, web pages. We have seen children and young people exploring their creativity through hackathons, turning their ideas into solutions.” said Madelene Eichhorn, Programme Manager, Embassy of Sweden in the Republic of Moldova.
“EU4Moldova: Startup City Cahul”, a project implemented by ATIC with the financial assistance of the EU and in partnership with the Embassy of Sweden, supports several initiatives in the southern region of the country, which aim to increase the digital skills of the teaching staff, improve the study process and teaching methods, and prepare the future specialists.
