By Ifeoma Igbokidi
The CWG D-Coder Initiative is an initiative birthed by CWG Plc, which focuses on training Senior Secondary School Students interested in working or growing in the ICT Industry. The aim is to introduce them to different aspects of ICT, like Programming and Coding, within an organized corporate setting where they are attached with experts in the Industry, who would provide them with the required hands-on experience to guide their interactions, the realities and expectations.
The initiative was launched April of 2017, and has had two prior successful roll-outs, the third which was just concluded recently at the Corporate Head office in Lagos. CWG owns an ICT Academy with is in full operation, with sessions running back to back, year in year out; education young Professionals to become more vast ICT experts. However, it had become quite obvious that building the ICT interest and capabilities from a younger age will become a more strategic route for sustaining the ICT Industry.
This led to the concept of catch, equip and guide them young as is done in many countries globally. The ‘CWG D-Coder Initiative is programmed to run mainly during the holiday periods each year, providing an educative yet exhilarating platform for interested Senior Secondary students to experience the thrill of creation that technology provide and indirectly begin to prepare them for the University and the workplace.
Unfortunately, many of our youths are not very often gainfully or progressively engaged during vacations, so the provision of this absolutely free platform is one we hope parents/guardian or even the schools will recognize and take advantage of and keep their children/students busy during the holiday break.
While they may not be studying or reading, it is exposed to a slightly more technical level of book interaction. May schools have embedded as part of their curriculum, IT placements;as part of the progression for their students, midway into their holidays. Providing the children with a rest a bit, get trained, rest again rhythm before returning to school.
This last set of students, began their coding training right after the Easter break, trained for 2 weeks following an intense theory and practical training sessions with our in house programmers, coders and software developers at their disposal. The students had a lot of fun working, learning and making friends among themselves. They also had the opportunity to mingle with some experts within the state-of-the-art CWG ‘Innovation Hub’.
All that has to be done is to send a mail to the company via its contact details on its website or via any of its social media platforms. With the next phase, student’s trainings are being prepped to be conducted within then Innovation Hub and be given the necessary empowerment to develop their own innovations in testing. The next phase is scheduled to hold around July/August of 2018.
Ifeoma Igbokidi is a Brand & Marketing Associate at CWG Plc