Mugoiri Girls High School in Murang’a county has launched a first of its kind, coding program that will teach students computer programming to give them a competitive advantage in the global job market.
Mugumo Munene, the CEO of Kodris Africa, which is one of the key partners in the program, said that coding is the new universal language and that many first world countries are making it compulsory in their schools adding it is time for Kenya to catch up.
Munene said that in Africa this is a pioneering program that has earned the Ministry of Education and the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) recognition for groundbreaking approval of content for teaching coding in schools anywhere on the continent.
“Mugoiri Girls should celebrate for pioneering the model school coding program. It is a great privilege,” he said.
The Principal Mugoiri Girls, Susan Mundia, said that the coding program will empower the students with problem solving skills, creativity, and critical thinking abilities.
“We are doing this to help them create abilities essential for success in the modern world,” she said.
The principal said that the skills will open doors for diverse career opportunities and help the students thrive in the digital era.
Pauline Warui of Commonwealth Women in Business-Africa said that this program will help introduce the girls to coding early to bridge the technology gap with their peers in developed countries.
“Here in Africa many people do not get a chance to be introduced to programming languages until after secondary school,” she said, adding that without such opportunities some children who are geniuses in computers are missing out on global opportunities.
She divulged that this program intends to teach coding to one million girls across Africa.
Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, addressing the students during the launch of the program, said it will help the younger generation of Kenyans to come up with practical solutions for the challenges facing different sectors of the society.
The CS applauded all the stakeholders in the program and noted that the coding skills will open up many global opportunities for the students.
“To bridge the gap in equality, this should be part of the national curriculum because as a country we have to improvise and give all students a chance to become global citizens,” Murkomen said.
He called for collaboration between government and stakeholders in the program such as Kodris Africa and Safaricom towards making the opportunity to learn coding available to more learners across the country.
Dennis Itumbi, a digital strategist at Statehouse, challenged the Ministry of Education and that of ICT to work together to support this program in schools saying that every child deserves a chance to learn coding as it is the language of the future.
“The Ministry of Education should work together with that of ICT together with partners such as Kodris and Safaricom to support this coding program,” Itumbi said.
The various stakeholders observed that it is time for the country to embrace technology by guiding children on safe and productive uses of gadgets such as computers and phones to bring out creativity and innovation instead of trying to suppress the devices.
By Purity Mugo
