Information Technology is one of those professions that not many people excel in, in Samoa.
That is expected to change in the future through a new programme CorderDojo, introduced by Digicel.
‘’Digicel is excited to bring the CoderDojo initiative to Samoa,’’ said Rory Condon, Digicel Samoa CEO.
Mr. Condon added, ‘’technology is no longer a luxury, but a necessity in many of our lives. And we believe that every child should have the opportunity to learn the basics regardless of whether they have computers at home. We believe that there is no reason, why, given the right support and encouragement, we wouldn’t have our own future Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs, right here in Samoa!’’
‘’Many of these skill sets will dominate the career landscape in future and Digicel is in the privileged position being able to help. We are also very grateful for the help of local IT professional, Eugene Barker, who shares our passion for technology and importance of teaching children the basics of computers in a supervised, and supportive learning environment.”
‘’What we try to teach is the basics. After that, the children are quick to learn more sophisticated things. We were amazed by how quickly they learned. It is incredible to see that light-bulb moment, when you know you’ve sparked off an interest in a child that can grow into a passion. That passion could lead these children to a very bright future.”
Technology is growing rapidly in Samoa, where youth are able to access the internet at all times with ease.
However, there is the question of cyber safety for these young web surfers.
"The whole idea is to build the interest of kids into this trade, and along with that teach them the importance of cyber safety, everything from knowing what’s safe and what’s not," said Condon.
Samoa’s leading communications and ICT Company is the first to setup Dojo classes in Samoa.
Digicel has also enlisted the help of its young and talented staff as volunteers to help to teach the children.
The pilot program started in October with two classes, at Digicel’s head office, focusing on 5-12 year old children.
These classes were facilitated by Eugene Barker of SIFA, and Digicel IT graduate and CoderDojo Champion Rosemary Thew. ‘’It was exciting the see passion in the kids and the growing interest in creating their own coding programs. Helping them is very important, if they make a mistake they aren’t necessarily wrong, they get to learn more and with my experience in the IT field, I feel that we must teach children coding as we teach them art, music and maths.’’, said Rosemary.
Digicel is investing in the future economic success of Samoa, through its education programmes. It’s recently launched $50,000 Technology Scholarship program entry date closes on 31 January. Introducing CoderDojo to Samoa is one more step on the path to developing our brightest young mind
“We see our pilot programme as a good start.’’, said Mr. Condon “However we are looking at ways to develop this initiative to bring the benefits to more children. As such we are on the lookout for volunteers, parents and organisations who share our passion for education.