By: Suman Sharma
Estonia, known for being the most digitally advanced country in the world, has lacked gender parity in technical education at the beginner level, until things changed in 2018, leading to a boom. As on date, approximately 4000 young girls are now programming to fly self-assembled drones, operating lawn mowers, programming and operating robotics, all thanks to a father who began a technical school in a garage after his 10-year-old daughter was removed from the Robotics class in school, only for her gender.
Aimed at getting more girls into information technology (IT), as an encouragement for a level-playing field so as to be able to compete in a fair space with boys, an Estonian father, in his 50s, began his humble endeavour at his residential garage in 2018, in Tallinn.
A computer engineer by profession, Taavi Kotka, the Reliance Jio Head for Estonia, runs HK Unicorn Squad, named after his daughter- Helena Kotka, a.k.a HK. Father of four children, in which HK was the eldest and the only daughter, followed by three boys, Kotka says, “My daughter was kicked out of a Robotics class which had 30 boys and 2 girls. If you have a mixed group of boys and girls, the girls do not perform at the level of boys as they are not so technically advanced.” The school removed 16 students, including 14 boys and the two girls later, when one of the teachers left, in a bid to reduce the group size, in which HK was one of the students.
Angered by the school’s decision of removing his daughter just because she was a girl, Kotka decided to home-school his daughter and many other schoolgirls like her who wanted to fly drones, do programming, coding and learn robotics. “I was irritated and wanted to show the Estonian education system that if proper environment is given to girls they will also perform and by proper environment I mean is to separate the boys and girls so as to create a level playing field, “adds Kotka.
HK Unicorn Squad began in 2018 with fundings fully from the Kotka family savings, for two groups, the junior primary one for 8–11-year-olds, while the advanced one for 16–17-year-olds. The curriculum was designed by Kotka himself, which is six courses divided into 10 lessons, each lesson being conducted for two hours every day, dealing with subjects like Physics, electronics, robotics, programming, coding etc.
Kotka’s efforts were rewarded finally, with his initiative being recognised by the Estonian Government’s Education Ministry and rewarding Kotka with an award. Tallinn’s technical University – TalTech, has also started helping HK Unicorn Squad significantly with funding.
Being a programmer himself, Kotka took the lead in designing the curriculum to be followed in HK Unicorn Squad but took help from curriculum creators also. The programme of studies is aligned with the Estonian national curriculum, with the idea being primarily to give a wide understanding of technology, and not just one type of a module, for example robots.
The complexity which the girls can programme at the age of 11 years is, for example that of moving a lawn mower, which these young girls can do as a skill set. Likewise, in the advanced section comprising girls aged 16-17 years, the complexity would be to fly a drone from scratch, calibrate motors and learn to fly and build a fully functional e-shop using ChatGPT, set up one’s own web domain etc.
There are no plans of going global as of now, but about the selection criterion, Kotka says, “We take in whoever wants to join. We accept 800 girls every year. Currently more than 1200 are in waiting list.” The entire programme is free of cost.
About future plans, Kotka reiterates, “Our family goal is to modernise technology studies in all schools in Estonia, we have not achieved that, yet.”
Still in the garage, HK Unicorn Squad makes use of digital classes along with physical in-person lessons, focusses more on promoting independent critical thinking, among girl students, thereby nourishing young minds towards invention-based entrepreneurial educative learning.
Taavi Kotka heads Jio Reliance in Estonia under the e-residency programme introduced by the Estonian Government to foreign nationals, of which Mukesh Ambani of Reliance is a member. Kotka has also provided consultancy to Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu.
About the Author
Suman Sharma is a former instructor from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and has been a journalist for almost two decades in various respectable national and international media houses, covering and reporting on security, strategy, military diplomacy and international relations. She has won numerous national and international awards including the Great Women Achievers award.
