A NEW VIEW OF WHAT AI CAN MEAN FOR THEM

Students of Mariam High School, Kisaasi, gathered for Ablestate’s Career Day Engagement on the 12th of August 2026.

Navigating the AI-Driven Era

On the 12th of August 2026, Ablestate spent a day at Mariam High School in Kisaasi, Kampala, talking to nearly 600 secondary school girls about artificial intelligence, careers, leveraging AI for effective performance in their lives, and what it takes to build a future in a world that is changing fast.

We did not come to tell them AI would take their jobs. We came to show them how to build their creativity with the use of AI. 

A Day, Three Conversations

Our team ran three sessions across the day. In the morning, students in their final years of secondary school explored how their subject choices, from physics to fine art, map onto real, emerging careers: AI Engineer, Data Scientist, UX Designer, Legal Tech Consultant. At midday, students in the middle years got hands-on training, trying Ablestate’s Sumaco learning platform for the first time, including a live touch-typing challenge that had the whole room cheering. In the afternoon, our youngest audience learned how to turn a dream into a concrete plan, using a simple framework called SMART goals.

A packed hall of students listening as an Ablestate facilitator (Mr David Anyuru) makes his presentation.

The Moment That Said It All

Four students volunteered to try Sumaco’s touch-typing tool live, in front of their classmates. One of them, Comfort, had never used the tool before that afternoon. She finished with 95% accuracy at 21 words per minute and walked away with a prize — and, we suspect, a very different idea of what she is capable of.

Comfort wins Ablestate’s live Sumaco touch-typing challenge.

What They Told Us

“We should not compete with AI, but use it.”

By the end of the day, 310 students, roughly half the school, had signed up to learn more about Sumaco and Ablestate’s holiday training programmes. Six students stood in front of their peers to share personal goals out loud for the first time. Dozens more asked questions that our facilitators still remember: about ethical hacking, about AI in medicine and about how they can build something of their own online.

Why We Do This

Ablestate exists to open digital doors for young people across East Africa, so they can build better futures for themselves, support their communities, and break free from cycles of poverty. Sumaco, our digital learning platform, gives schools, teachers, and independent learners the tools to build real digital skills, from touch typing to AI-assisted research, at their own pace.

Days like this one at Mariam High School are how we find out whether that mission is landing. On 12 August 2026, in one school, in one day, we got a clear answer.

Join Us

If you are a school, a teacher, a parent, or an organisation that wants to bring this kind of engagement, or the Sumaco platform, to your own community, we would love to hear from you.

Website:  www.ablestate.africa

Sumaco:  www.sumaco.africa

Phone / WhatsApp:  +256 704 255401

Email:  hello@ablestate.africa

Socials:  @ablestateafrica