The leading software company in Nigeria, SystemSpecs has demonstrated its commitment to develop the nation’s technology ecosystem by investing resources in young talents through the facilitation of rigorous coding sessions for secondary school students drawn from over 18 different schools from nine states and FCT in Lagos and Abuja for two weeks.
The summer coding class, which was organized for selected students, was hosted in collaboration with Techquest Academy, a technology college charged with the training of people on coding, by using robots and other gadgets.
Tagged Remita Summer Coding Camp, the two-week summer camp was purposed to open the mind of the children to latent opportunities in the technology space and creatively expose them to the technological world while arousing their interest in exploring the world of innovations, creativities and developments.
According to John Obaro, the Managing Director and CEO of SystemSpecs, the summer coding was organised to engage the students and build their skills and create in them the desire to be creative and innovative while guiding them towards exploring the world of technology.
“We just saw this coding camp as part of the opportunity to work with the kids and show them what the future is and encourage them to embrace software development since everything around us these days is technology-enabled. So being able to give these young ones the opportunity to understand what it is and being ready to take over the future of technology,” he said.
Olumide Aderewale, Techquest Operations Manager and one of the facilitator at the summer camp, pledged the company’s commitment towards a continuous follow-up on the students after the summer camp.
“This is just an introduction to whet the appetite of the students and also to create a hunger for them to learn. With this training, they will able to think creatively, work collaboratively and even build simple solutions.
“After the two weeks intensive session, they will also grow with the support of follow-up from us and their parents who will support them by getting the necessary resources. On our part, we have a link posted online that the kids can continue to learn under our tutelage”, he said.
One of the parents who accompanied Aishat Lawal, one of the participating students, to the camp, Olajide Lawal told the media that he purposely brought her 12-year old daughter who is in JSS3 at the Federal Government College, Ibillo, Edo State, to the camp to learn how to write a line of code.
Lawal said that he had to register her ward when he learnt about the opportunities available to students who are digitally-inclined in this present digital age.
“I see a lot of opportunities that are lacking in my local government and brought Aishat here to build her capacity in addition to what she is being taught in Federal Government College”, Lawal said.
Lawal who brought her daughter from Ifelodun Local Government to Lekki, venue of the coding camp said he was satisfied with the high level of facilitators who administer the coding classes.
“Aishat told me that they were taught how to build animation, games, 3D printing and many other things. I know that after the two weeks, she would have learnt a lot of things”, Lawal explained.
Speaking with the media during the summer camp, 13 years old and ss1 student of International School, University of Lagos, Diekoloreoluwa Ajayi shared the impact of the summer camp.
“I have learnt a lot. I have learnt how to build blocks from Scratch. There is a programing language called Scratch. You don’t have to start building from Scratch. With the programing language called Scratch, you don’t have to write code, you just have to bring out the blocks. So I have learnt how to put blocks together.
“I have learnt how to make games with the programming language. I have learnt how to put words together to make sense. I have learnt how to make a questionnaire; like my character can interact with you. It can also ask you questions and give you specific instruction,” he explained.
