Indian-origin teenage tech entrepreneur Taj Pabari who won Queensland’s Young Australian of the Year Award this year, has set out on a mission to educate 1 million children by 2020.
He, with his team at Fiftysix has been involved with teaching technology and entrepreneurship to kids around Australia since he founded the company in 2014.
Taj’s Fiftysix creations combine hardware, software and education, enabling children to build their own tablets. He calls his build-it-yourself tablet and coding kit, the ‘LEGO of the 21st century’.
"I was inspired by people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and I thought why don't I try and change the world too," he said.
"The kits we create help kids to learn about computer science, as children put it together like building blocks.
"It gives young people from the age of six to 16 the opportunity to build tech and create tech instead of just consuming it."
As part of the mission, his team landed in remote Aurukun located in far north Queensland, almost 2,500 kms from Brisbane in April this year.
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Aurukun is one of the most disadvantaged Aboriginal communities in Australia with mass unemployment, drugs and alcohol and the legacy of the mission system.
“As part of Advance Queensland initiative, we took our team to Aurukun state school which was in news for lot of issues it faced last year,” Taj tells SBS Hindi.
Taj and his team spent four days at Aurukun State School talking and teaching Aboriginal children about technology and entrepreneurship.
“The kids were angels. They were fantastic. We conducted workshops for 200 kids aged between 4 and 16. We taught them to build their own tablets,” Taj says.
His team then showed drones to the students and taught them how to use it.
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“When we were discussing entrepreneurship and business ideas, one child said how they faced problems while going to swim in the river as it was infested with crocodiles. He then suggested that drones could be used to detect crocodiles in river with infrared technology and thus alert swimmers about crocodiles. I was blown away by their ideas,” Taj said.
Taj found this a ‘powerful opportunity’ to connect with Aboriginal children in Queensland.
“This is our purpose. We want every single child to have an opportunity.”
