Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The Zariah Elizabeth Foundation (TZE Foundation), UNESCO, with support from Microsoft, recently trained 50 public school students and 10 teachers in Abuja on basic skills in web and mobile applications development.
The Executive Director of the foundation, Mr. Akindayo Akindolani, said the training was aimed at introducing students to the world of ‘coding’ at an early stage and also start a code club in the schools with the aim of transferring the knowledge to them with the support of partners.
‎He added that the programme, which is part of the UNESCO’s Youthmobile initiative, was also aimed at engaging a critical mass of young people to acquire basic technical skills needed to develop, promote, and sell locally relevant mobile applications.
“It would serve as a useful tool for addressing local issues of sustainable development and youth empowerment.â€
Akindolani said the training would last for 10 days, stressing that the teachers would also be trained to enable them provide technical and mentorship support for students thereafter.
“We believe that learning programming skills will benefit students in enormous ways. The future is hinged on technology, in whatever career they chose, technology is going to give them an edge.
“One of our major objectives is towards building the next set of developers that will eventually emerge as the next Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg that Nigeria and Africa will be proud of,†he said.
