13 Children Complete A Coding Bootcamp at Soronko Academy

Soronko Academy has been known for its immense contribution to teaching programming for several years now. Their flagship programme, Tech Needs Girls, has trained several girls all across the country, to have a basic understanding of programming, and how it can help solve problems. The Academy just completed a coding bootcamp for 13 children, so we talked to Regina Honu, the founder.

How many children participated?

The children’s class contained 13 students; 5 girls and 8 boys.

How many trainers?

There were 4 trainers.

What are some of the concepts they learned?

They learnt about Human Centered Design, Computer basics, blogging and Website development.

What do you hope to achieve with the class you offered them?

We want to introduce coding to children since it is the language of the future. We believe the next Mark Zuckerberg can be a 10-year-old Ghanaian child. We also want to change the theoretical way children are taught when it comes to science and technology, and show them how practical it can be in solving everyday problems.

How long was the class?

The class lasted for 8 weeks.

How were they selected?

There was no selection process. We believe that every child should be granted the opportunity to study about technology since it’s an important part of our lives now. Admissions were opened for children from (5–12yrs). Our youngest was 5 and our oldest student was 12.

When is the next session?

The next session begins 10th of July. We are opened for admissions.

What are some interesting stories from the class?

There were so many interesting stories, from some of the children not knowing how to turn on a laptop to building a website at the end of the session. The class also helped build confidence with their presentations and also team building skills with having to work together on some of their projects. They got excited to create their first email address and send emails to their parents. They also enjoyed creating their blogs and sharing their stories of what they found interesting. They all completed the class having built a website of things that they found interesting (puppies, Chelsea (sports), rabbits, fashion, cars, boxing, etc)

What are your thoughts about the program?

We believe in today’s digital economy it is important to equip children with the skills needed to thrive in the 21st century. Coding is the language of the future and with human centered design, children learn to critically think and solve problems. We are building Africa’s next generation of innovators and critical thinkers. With every job industry having a digital component, we are excited to introduce children to creating technology that will shape the future. We are also excited to see what our students will go on to do, empowered with their new technology skills.

Programming, and Computer science education for that matter, has been in the media recently, as many software entrepreneurs have encouraged it being taught as part of the core subjects in schools. For anyone, learning how to code teaches you how to think and solve problems pragmatically. This is a good discipline to inculcate in children.

If you’re considering teaching your children how to code, this is a great opportunity. Reach out to Soronko Academy now. Call 0574541522 for enquiries.

Originally published at gharage.