Nadya Eka Lestari
TechInAfrica — Africa is preparing for the fourth annual Africa Code Week this October. Africa Code Week is an initiative driven by a German multinational software company Systems, Applications, and Products (SAP). Through this training, prior trained teachers will teach coding to young Africans in 37 different African countries. Africa Code Week has taught over four million young Africans since its first initiative in 2015.
In 2018, Africa Code Week trained over 2.3 million people, including teachers, trainers, and students. This year, this initiative plans to be bigger than ever by reaching 3.8 million students and teachers.
This event contains a partnership between UNESCO YouthMobile, 28 African governments, 130 implementing partners, and 120 ambassadors throughout Africa, allowing it to reach higher participants.
Africa Code Week missions are empowering young Africans to learn and develop digital skills for the Africa tech market which has been growing over time. This initiative sees coding as a new form of literacy that will be needed for the future, where the digital age is rising. This training also hopes to provide young Africans with career options and help them participate in the global economy later.
“In a fast-changing world driven by digital technology, it is important that every child becomes a creative actor of localized digital solutions, not its passive consumer,” said Davide Storti, UNESCO Coordinator for Africa Code Week.
Africa Code Week starts with Train-the-Teacher sessions that occur between June and September in every country aspiring to host the event. Almost 23,000 teachers were trained during this event in 2018. In this training, organized by SAP, non-profit partners, or participating ministries, teachers are expected to continue support coding in Africa even after this training ended.
Each participating country selects a week or two to host the training. During Africa Code Week teachers provide free workshops on coding accessible for all students aged 8 to 24. Younger students aged 8-17 were taught basic coding, while students aged 18-24 were taught more in-depth, specific workshops focusing on programming languages. Other than that, the workshops also encourage students to practice their basic coding skills to write code for animations, quizzes, and games.
In addition, Africa Code Week is also available in easily-accessible online workshops for those who cannot attend the workshops in person.
Source: BorgenMagazine.com
