Story by: Fundisiwe Maseko for IT News Africa | Photography by: Julian Goldswain
(Above) Africa Code Week 2017 launched in Tanzania.
Africa Code Week (ACW) kicked-off in Tanzania in the presence of Government officials and hundreds of pupils from surrounding areas kicking off the first series of live coding workshops.
Hon. Prof. Joyce Ndalichako Tanzanian Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, joined SAP alongside Hon. Ciaran Cannon, Irish Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development, UNESCO YouthMobile, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Cape Town Science Centre, the Galway Education Centre, and Google to declare the 2017 edition of Africa Code Week open across 35 countries. 500,000 children and youth aged 8-24 are expected to participate in the thousands of free coding workshops that will be organised throughout the week. In the run-up to these events, thousands of teachers have been trained by skilled volunteers from SAP CSR EMEA and ACW Ambassadors across most participating countries.
“…Coding is the 21st century language and as with any other language, the earlier children learn it, the faster they become fluent.” —Minister Cannon
With half a million young Africans engaged over the past two years, 15 Governments and over 100 partners on board already, Africa Code Week speaks volumes on the importance and impact of public-private partnerships in the digital age. According to Claire Gillissen-Duval, Director of EMEA Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP and Global Project Lead for Africa Code Week, “Tanzania is a perfect example of how governments can leverage the Africa Code Week shared-value model and dynamic ecosystem to accelerate schools’ digital transformation and fast-track youth empowerment through ICT across entire nations.”
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