Youths in C’ River gain Digital Skills during Computer Sciences Education Week

Efio-Ita Nyok|17 December 2016

The Computer Sciences Education Week globally marked between 7-13 December 2016 was observed in Calabar, Cross River State capital city. The Week is an annual international event that focuses on introducing students, young people and adults to the world of technology by teaching them programming skills in 1 Hour of Code. This week was celebrated in four highlights, namely, The Girls Coding Day, In-school coding workshops, The Digital Footprint Class and #CodeCalabar Conference.

According to the organisers of the event ‘In Cross River State, The Computer Sciences Education Week was celebrated throughvarious activities aimed at improving the digital skills of young people in our community and enabling them realize the opportunities for employment and engagement in the Digital Communications and Technology Industry. Activities included in-school coding workshops (December 7^th – 9^th 2016) at Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria Secondary School (FAANS), Calabar, Government Secondary School Ogoja and Annunciation Girls Juniorate, Ogoja. The Girls Coding Day was marked on December 10^th 2016 where over 100 girls were taken through a coding workshop using Minecraft and MIT app inventor. The Digital Footprint Class held on December 9^th – 12^th 2016, it enhanced the Digital Skills of 134 young people using a Google certified curriculum.

‘The Week culminated in the #CodeCalabar Conference a galvanizing platform for students, teachers, influencers, programmers, networking/database managers, digital marketers, bloggers, Graphic artists, web developers, tech entrepreneurs, collaborators, investors and enthusiasts which enabled them connect, collaborate and further build the tech ecosystem in Cross River State, they continued.

‘The week also featured the Calabar Tech Fest Competition- a Tech Solutions Showcase; Winners of the Calabar Tech Fest Competition include: Miss Dorcas Edet of HipCityHub –an online directory of skilled vendors in Cross River State carted away the First Prize, Mr. God’s Gift Unwana of Pison Peak – an online mobile clinic service won the 2^nd Prize while Aruk Eteng of The Language App won the 3^rd Prize. The Winners got $5000 worth of Prizes including 3 Months Tech Mentoring in Andela,3- 6 Months incubation Support from The Future Project, Afterschool Centre for Career Development and Ikapture Networks, Website Development and Hosting for 1 year from TechHive Nigeria as well as 1 year Internet subscription support from Nugi Technologies.

‘The Computer Sciences Education Week was delivered in partnership with Microsoft Nigeria, The Future Project, TechHive Nigeria, Technovation Indecent, Genitech Solutions, JB Creations, South-  South Enterprise Development Centre, and Afterschool Centre for Career Development. Our media partners included: Calabarblog.com, BloomSquare PR, CalabarReporters.com’, it concluded.

Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger, the Editor & Publisher of NegroidHaven.org