Over 250 Kids to Learn Coding at Kids Code Africa in Jos

Over 250 kids between the ages of 9 to 15 were inaugurated into the Kids Code Club Africa programme for 2021 in Jos on Monday.

Kids Code Club Africa is an initiative of Alpha Blue Foundation aimed at building capacity for African children to enable digital and technological advancement of Africa through talent availability. by giving technological capacity to young Africans in the 5th Industrial revolution.

The programme which have trained close to 500 kids in Plateau state begins with a four weeks intense training during the summer break where the participants are exposed to the basics of coding.

After that, the annual Kids in Tech conference and awards is held to provide an opportunity for participants to showcase their projects and also interface with experts, stakeholders, policymakers and investors from the tech ecosystem.

Speaking at the inauguration, the Director General of the Plateau State Information and Communication Technology Development Agency, David Daser said, the initiative is playing a pivotal role in ensuring human capital development which is a core strategy of the agency.

The Director General who was represented by Golepji David Wambutda further stated that the programme will effectively contribute to reducing the number of unemployed youths in the state and other parts of the country. He also assured the participants and the organizers of the support of the agency.

According to the David of the Kids Code, the programme and the conference is private led and a deliberate attempt to drive a required, positive and sustainable change in the African continent, with the aim of rebuilding her economic and industrial base for relevance in the emerging digital age and realities by 2030 when the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals-SDGs wraps up.

He appealed to the government to support their efforts to enable them to access more children across the state.

Some of the skills to be learnt by the participants during the training includes:critical thinking, computational thinking, computer practice, collaborating and programming. During this training, outstanding participants shall be selected to attend the International Kids in Tech conference and awards event held in Abuja on the 23rd of September 2021, where these kids will pitch their innovations to African experts, the government, diplomats amongst other key players.

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Highlights of the event was the project presentation of a desert gaming app and a website developed by Annas Aliyu Alanuta and Precious Solowmon Karyil who were participants in the immediate past cohorts of the programme