SAP has announced ‘Africa Code Week’ an African initiative aimed at spreading digital literacy and offering simpler access to coding education for young people.
In a programme that began 1st October 2015 will run up to 10th October. Children and youth aged 8 to 24 across 17 countries Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Tunisia and Uganda will undergo hundreds of online sessions and hundreds of free coding workshops.
Students aged 18-24 will learn how to leverage Web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript, as well as Meteor.js. to create their own WhatsApp clone, a simple messaging app that runs on mobile devices. In parallel, AMPION Africa Code Week buses will tour Rwanda and the Western Cape in South Africa to allow children in rural areas to join the coding revolution.
The initiative is aimed at empowering millions of young Africans on the path to successful careers. By having trained tech savvy graduates, Africa’s position will be elevated in the globally competitive knowledge economy.
Africa Code Week is part of SAP’s effort to bridge this digital skills gap and drive sustainable growth in Africa. The company already invests in the SAP® Skills for Africa program, which provides additional business and IT skills to recent university graduates. Africa Code Week reinforces that commitment to graduates while extending it to primary and secondary students, creating a full cycle of skills support for young people in Africa.
Africa has the fastest growing digital consumer market and the largest working-age population in the world. The World Economic Forum* expects the population of Africa to double to 1 billion by 2050, exceeding that of China and India. The potential problems triggered by this boom in working-age youth is compounded by a lack of educational opportunities, technology training in particular. At the same time, African companies are scrambling to fill positions with employees who possess the right digital skills. Only one percent of African children leave school with basic coding skills.
In preparation for Africa Code Week, SAP has deployed its own IT experts as volunteers to train adults, parents, teachers and government staff, giving them the tools they need to bring coding knowledge to children and youth. To-date, they have already trained 1,500 educators.