digital literacy Archives - 51��Africa News Center

SA Firms Set Ambitious Targets to Plug ICT Skills, Gender Gap

Sibahle Malinga for ITWeb — Tue, 02 May 2023 08:32:36 +0000

In light of International Girls in ICT Day, South African firms are ramping up their digital skills training initiatives for girls, in efforts to bridge the gender digital divide, which costs women billions in lost economic opportunities.

Yesterday, almost 200 countries celebrated��, a global day declared by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on 8 April 2011, to encourage young women to pursue careers in information and communication technologies (ICT).

Hundreds of events took place worldwide, aimed at inspiring a new generation of girls to explore the exciting opportunities offered by an ICT career, says the ITU.

In light of this year’s theme, “Digital skills for life”, local firms reaffirmed their commitments to help more girls in SA break into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related fields, through digital skills training, which lies at the heart of the future of work.

According to the United Nations, adolescent girls and young women in low- and middle-income countries��on $15 billion in economic opportunities due to gaps in internet access and digital skills, relative to their male peers.

Local firms SAP, Cisco and Anglo American say they are doing their part to upskill girls in digital skills, to co-create a better digital future to enable young women to have full, equal and meaningful participation in Africa’s digital economy.

Software giant 51��says it has helped upskill over 150 000 girls in SA through the��, which forms part of its Africa Code Week (ACW) skills training initiative.

The project is ramping up efforts to reach one million girls in previously disadvantaged and underserviced communities of SA in the medium-term.

“Siyafunda CTC aims to help overcome the low rate of internet penetration by providing critical and affordable ICT, 4IR [fourth industrial revolution] and business skills training that covers a number of critical domains required for all work environments of today,” explains Cathy Smith, MD of 51��Africa.

“Academically, there have been huge improvements in participants’ school performance, and many students trained through Siyafunda CTC pursued careers in technology after completing their matric.”

Other 51��programmes focused on upskilling girls across Africa include an introduction to data science, digital literacy classes – end-user computing, school holiday programmes, web development bootcamps, and coding and robotics for girls, it says.

Over the past seven years, close to 14 million pupils and teachers from 48 African countries have been empowered with digital skills through ACW, with 49% of participating pupils being female, notes Smith.

The initiative is looking to add more female participants in future.

According to the UN, women and girls are 25%��than men to have sufficient knowledge and digital skills to use technology. This robs girls of crucial opportunities. While girls do as well as boys in science in most countries, such as SA, women occupy less than one-third of positions in the technology sector globally, it notes.

In addition, SA is experiencing a large-scale shortage of ICT skills. According to the latest ICT Skills Survey, the country lacks at least tens of thousands of ICT professionals, which is exacerbated by the increasing number of local ICT firms looking for talent overseas.

“With the correct investment in skills development, Africa’s economy could build the world’s future tech workforce, bringing untold economic and social benefit to the continent and its citizens,” notes Smith.

Supporting local schools

��230 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills in 2030, according to a report by the International Finance Corporation.

To prepare for these future skills, networking giant Cisco says it aims to support almost 40 000 girls to enter the STEM fields in SA, through the Cisco Networking Academy’s latest (2022) cohort of students.

Cisco Networking Academy was established 25 years ago, to provide IT courses, learning simulators and hands-on learning opportunities in cyber security, networking, programming and the internet of things, through partnerships with learning institutions.

“Cumulatively, of our 189 000 students globally, we have over 82 000 students in South Africa and 46% female participation locally,” notes Altaaf Hamid, senior manager: global partnerships at Cisco Corporate Affairs.

“In the last fiscal year alone, we had 61% female participation. Additionally, over half (51%) of the 1 127 instructors in South Africa who are teaching Networking Academy courses are female.”

Since the introduction of the Cisco Networking Academy in Sub-Saharan Africa, more than one million people have been trained and upskilled in the region, it points out.

Anglo American says it rolled-out a comprehensive ICT programme across 109 schools around its mining operations in South Africa last year, to give thousands of learners the skills they need enter the digital job market.

Recently, 35 girls from the first cohort of the pilot graduated from the Anglo American ICT programme, which provides youth from the mining company’s host communities with tech skills.

“The aim of this programme was two-pronged. The first was to create awareness and a pathway for learners in our host communities to learn and access skills and training related to the future of work,” says Zaheera Soomar, global lead for��education��and community skills at Anglo American.

“The second was to ensure our schools are adequately supported as we embed ICT into them. Based on its success, the programme will increase its intake to 120 learners this year, coming from communities close to Anglo American’s operations in Limpopo, North West and Northern Cape.”

The Anglo American ICT initiative has set targets such as ensuring over 50% of participants are female; over 90% of learners (girls and boys) aged five meet the minimum requirements for school readiness; 90% of grade three learners pass with at least 50% in numeracy and literacy; and 75% of grade six learners pass with at least 50% in mathematics and English first additional language.

Huawei SA, LG SA, GirlCode and Africa Teen Geeks are also among the organisations that have committed to train more South African girls in STEM, to enable the next generation of female leaders to enter the field.

This article first appeared on .

The post SA Firms Set Ambitious Targets to Plug ICT Skills, Gender Gap appeared first on 51��Africa News Center.

4th Industrial Revolution: Teachers Get Empowered on Digital Literacy

51��News — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 05:29:20 +0000

A number of secondary school teachers across the country recently got the opportunity to better equip their students for the 4th industrial revolution, as they benefitted from the critical digital training made possible with the collaboration of the National Senior Secondary School Education Commission, NSSEC�� and Coderina Education and Technology Foundation.

The partnership is primarily aimed at��unlocking Nigeria’s human capital development by enabling teachers to prepare students for the fourth industrial revolution, 4IR.

The selected teachers from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja, participated in the 51��Africa Code week, with over 300 teachers trained in one week.

The Executive Secretary of NSSEC, Prof. Benjamin Abakpa, said that repositioning the education system starts with providing teachers with the proper education and tools to prepare students adequately.

He noted that the partnership is a huge step toward fulfilling the commission’s mandate to reposition the country’s education system in alignment with the future of work requirements.

He said: “Therefore, teacher’s education is one key area that the NSSEC will focus on, among other necessary initiatives, to help fulfil its mandate.

“As we work to raise a tech-savvy generation of students, we must also raise a generation of tech-savvy teachers. Coding should be part of the education curriculum, like other literacy and numeracy subjects. Coding is as much about creativity as it is about math, science, and problem-solving.”

Also, Coderina BOT Chairman, Mr. Femi Niyi, explained: “In response to the future of work, education must evolve to support teachers in developing individual student’s potential and preparing students to become lifelong learners so that they can innovate tomorrow’s world and solve real-life problems in their communities.

“The 51��Africa Code week, the most extensive digital literacy on the continent of Africa, is designed to demystify coding and make it a learned skill for students. However, achieving this would require teacher training and transformation from traditional teaching styles to pedagogy that supports the acquisition of 21st century skills and competencies necessary in the 4IR.

This article first appeared here:

The post 4th Industrial Revolution: Teachers Get Empowered on Digital Literacy appeared first on 51��Africa News Center.

UNESCO African Code Challenge Awards

51��News — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 06:49:31 +0000

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), through its Science and Mathematics Educator’s Federation (SMEF) Thaka-Khoali Programme��held the 2020 African Code Challenge Winners Competition Awards ceremony under the African Code Week (ACW) initiative.

In his remarks, UNESCO Secretary General (SG) Teboho Tsilane informed that ACW is��an annual event that Lesotho adopted in 2016. He noted that it was facilitated by UNESCO, working jointly with collective schools to spread digital literacy across��the country and nurture the 21st Century era with skillful workforce through practical and playful learning.

“I congratulate all participating schools and learners this year, I hope that this initiative will also persist��even in the countless upcoming years. Schools that participated in the 2020 ACW competition were Masitise High School, Thabeng High School and New Millennium��High School,” Tsilane stated.

The UNESCO-SMEF programme is in its first year under ACW and is intended “to share with the Government of Lesotho (GoL), as a key stakeholder on how the��initiative is advancing Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, Design Thinking in a creative way��through coding especially among the youth and children”. UNESCO-SMEF Ambassador and Trainer for ACW Scratch Programme Bokang Selialia explained that the purpose of the program is to train on and raise awareness of ICT to students��and also to engage them in order to transform their education system, which requires excess knowledge of Mathematics.

Selialia explained that in the Africa Code��Challenge Winners Competition, students’ teachers get involved, playing students’ mentors for their projects to be successful and be submitted to�� Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing (SAP). The three winners; ‘Matumelo Makoa, Reamohetsoe Khomo-haka and Keabetsoe Mokhali were awarded trophies, certificates and compensations.

As indicated by Tsilane, these students participated in the three African Code Challenge projects precisely speeding calculator, Covid-19 awareness and maze games.

Therefore the 1st winner title went straight to ‘Matumelo Makoa from Masitise High School who participated in speeding calculator, coached by Mr. Sello Mpota, 2nd��winner was Reamohetsoe Khomo-haka who participated in Covid-19 awareness coached by Mr. Malakoane Thejane while the third winner was Keabetsoe Mokhali from Thabeng High School coached by Mrs. ‘Maneo Mapharisa.

The post UNESCO African Code Challenge Awards appeared first on 51��Africa News Center.

Meet Ethiopia’s Ten Year-old Coding Champion

51��News — Fri, 21 May 2021 07:02:47 +0000

Much has been written about the importance of advancing digital literacy on the African continent, especially among its younger citizens. With more than half of the world’s under-25s expected to live in Africa by 2050, mobilizing and inspiring this youthful population to be active participants of the global digital economy is central to the continent’s future.

For Soliyana Gizaw Hunde, ten year-old coder and recent winner of the inaugural AfriCANCode Challenge, a love of maths and science and a strong community spirit inspired her to develop a fun and engaging way to practice math and raise awareness of COVID-19 related health protocols.

“Being part of the AfriCANCode Challenge has been fun, and winning the national and overall competition was very exciting,” says Soliyana, who lives with her parents in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. “It has motivated me to do more and dream big.”

The AfriCANcode Challenge was introduced after the 2020 51��Africa Code Week program shifted to an all-virtual format in the wake of the global pandemic. The competition challenged youth aged 8 to 16 to develop a game using the Scratch coding language to reimagine school and education, or answer the question “How will your tech change the future of education?”.

Participants from 22 countries made it to the final round of the competition, and the winner was announced in early 2021. All of the top three winners were girls, with Soliyana crowned overall winner at a virtual prize-giving ceremony in February.

Soliyana says she was inspired to learn coding after seeing the projects her cousin, a software engineering student at one of the local state universities, was doing. “When I was eight, my cousin helped me take a short coding training course at a local center. Since then, I have watched instructional videos on YouTube, and I have been motivated to keep practicing.”

After the pandemic forced the Ethiopian government to close schools, Soliyana decided to apply her coding skills in service of her community by participating in the AfriCANCode Challenge.

“When we started staying at home due to the pandemic, I heard how it was affecting people in our community and what we could do to protect ourselves and our loved ones. I decided to develop my Mathstainment game to create awareness about COVID-19 and offer a simple and fun way to practice maths.”

Mathstainment, the educational game developed by Soliyana, was built using the Scratch programming language. It asks a series of maths questions that leads a character on the screen ever closer to personal protective equipment (PPE) for each correct answer. After a few incorrect answers, the player has to start over. Maths questions are posed at varying difficulty levels, ranging from ‘Easy’ to ‘Difficult’.

Asked what lies ahead for the young coding champion, Soliyana says: “I want to be an astronomer. I want to know how the universe works.”

Alexandra van der Ploeg, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP, says Soliyana and her fellow participants at this year’s AfriCANCode Challenge are inspirations to youth across the continent. “The innovation and community-minded spirit displayed by this year’s participants point to a bright future for Africa’s citizens. It is also hugely encouraging to see the high ratio of female participants, whose ingenuity saw all three top place finishes claimed by girls.”

She points to progress over the past few years with expanding access to coding teaching and digital literacy opportunities for the continent’s youth. “51��Africa Code Week and the AfriCANCode Challenge mobilizes hundreds of partners in the public and private sector who rally around the urgent task of empowering Africa’s youth with essential digital skills. As we continue into an uncertain future, this investment into youth skills development will pay huge dividends over the coming years and decades.”

The post Meet Ethiopia’s Ten Year-old Coding Champion appeared first on 51��Africa News Center.

51��Africa Code Week Returns and it’s Fully Online

51��News — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 07:40:38 +0000

+3.85 million children and teachers engaged in 2019
AfriCanCode Challenge calls for Courageous Coders and Plugged-In Pupils
Virtual model and mobile app will offer free open-source digital training to 54 African countries

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 10 August 2020��– In recognition of the United Nations’��this week, a new-look 51��Africa Code Week (ACW) initiative officially kicks off across the continent with a number of exciting changes and developments all aimed at empowering Africa’s youth with digital skills learning. Now in its sixth year, ACW is the largest digital literacy initiative on the continent. Over the last five years, the initiative has positively impacted millions of youth and thousands of teachers.

Introduced by SAP, UNESCO and partners in 2015, ACW aims to spark interest in coding through fun and interactive community workshops for youngsters. From the 88,000 students who participated in the first year, to the 3.85 million children and 39,000 teachers who ran +55 000 coding workshops in 37 countries last year, the impact of the initiative has grown significantly.

2020 ACW efforts are shifting to a virtual model and this will allow expansion of the program’s reach to 54 African countries with all learning materials translated into Portuguese and French for the large Francophone and Lusophone African communities. A new ACW mobile app will also be introduced this year, providing easy access to smartphone material in support of all-inclusive learning. The ACW initiative will continue to work closely with Ministries of Education across the African continent, with a view to promoting sustainable digital skills development capacity.

Commenting on the 2020 initiative’s virtual kick-off, South African TV news anchor, female tech entrepreneur and Africa Code Week Ambassador, Faith Mangope says: “A big part of this year’s Africa Code Week efforts will be focused on engaging more women teachers and students. Globally, women hold only 24% of jobs in the ICT sector, and there are 250 million fewer women online than men. Our mission is to ensure that every child has an equal opportunity to attain the skills they need to contribute meaningfully to the future workforce.”

Another development for this year is the AfriCANCode Challenge which is a coding competition aimed at engaging participants through a number of fun and exciting activities. This ACW competition invites youth, aged 9 to 16 either individually or in teams, to use their skills and creativity to solve problems. Two competition themes have been identified: ‘Courageous Coders’, focused on how technology can change the world, and ‘Plugged-in Pupils’, which asks youngsters to imagine the potential related to tomorrow’s connected school.

Commenting on the AfriCANCode Challenge and the urgent need to prepare youth with digital skills learning, Moez Chakchouk, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information at UNESCO adds: “More than 60% of sub-Saharan Africa’s population is under the age of 25, making it the most youthful region in the world. The continent’s working-age population is expected to swell by two-thirds reaching 600 million by 2030. It’s clearly critical to ensure Africa’s youth is fully equipped with 21^st��century digital skills. Harnessing the power of creativity, technology and innovation can also inspire us to unite and be ready to meet today’s challenges.”

In addition to the new virtual components of the 2020 ACW initiative, hundreds of 51��expert volunteers from across the globe will also play their part online by working with NGOs and other partner organisations to provide on-the-ground support during this year’s activities.��Claudio Muruzabal, SAP’s President of EMEA South says, “Offering accessible, hands-on digital support to Africa’s youth and teachers helps put people in a position to meaningfully participate in today’s digital economy. This is vital and SAP’s commitment to Africa Code Week remains firm. Through invaluable partnerships with UNESCO, ADEA, Irish Aid, BMZ,��and all the partner NGOs across Africa, the 2020 ACW initiative can effectively leverage the skillsets of networks and knowledgeable local ICT experts to ensure every workshop is a sound success.”

For more information about Africa Code Week or to get involved, visit the website�� or��follow 51��and ACW on Twitter at�� Ի��

Five Fun Facts about Coding:

��1.�� There are nearly 700 coding languages in use today.

2.�� The first reported coder was a woman named Ada Lovelace who created a program for an early mechanical computer in 1843.

3.�� The first computer ‘bug’ was an actual bug! A dead moth caused a malfunction inside an early computer in 1947.

4.�� In October 1958, Physicist William Higinbotham created what is thought to be the first video game called “Tennis for Two” – a kind of Pong ancestor.

5.�� Computer code may look like a foreign language, but it’s actually pretty easy to learn. Keep an eye out for details about virtual coding workshops you can attend during this year’s Africa Code Week in October!

ENDS

About Africa Code Week

Since 2015, 51��Africa Code Week (ACW) has been creating free opportunities for young Africans to learn coding skills and for teachers to be trained on digital learning curricula. Strong partnerships with the public, private and civil society sectors across 54 countries are driving sustainable impact by building teaching capacity and supporting the adoption of coding into national curricula in support of UN Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5 and 17. In 2019 alone, the initiative saw 3.85M children participating in coding workshops. A deep-learning workshop also took place for 28 female teachers from 15 African countries with a goal to empower more African girls through coding skills. Join 51��and partners by visiting www.africacodeweek.org to find out more.

About SAP

As the Experience Company powered by the Intelligent Enterprise, 51��is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP® system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. 51��helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables more than 440,000 business and public customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 51��helps the world run better and improve people’s lives. For more information, visit .

# # #

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to 51��are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. 51��undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP’s future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including SAP’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
© 2019 51��SE. All rights reserved.
51��and other 51��products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 51��SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.

��

Note to editors:

To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit . On this platform, you can find high resolution material for your media channels. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit . From this site, you can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links, and subscribe to RSS feeds from 51��TV.

For customers interested in learning more about 51��products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-151��(1-800-872-1727)

For more information, press only:
Delia Sieff, 082��348 7802, delia.sieff@sap.com, (CAT)

51��Press Room; press@sap.com

Please consider our . If you received this press release in your e-mail and you wish to unsubscribe to our mailing list please contact press@sap.com and write Unsubscribe in the subject line.

The post 51��Africa Code Week Returns and it’s Fully Online appeared first on 51��Africa News Center.

digital literacy Archives - 51����Africa News Center

SA Firms Set Ambitious Targets to Plug ICT Skills, Gender Gap

Supporting local schools

4th Industrial Revolution: Teachers Get Empowered on Digital Literacy

UNESCO African Code Challenge Awards

Meet Ethiopia’s Ten Year-old Coding Champion

51����Africa Code Week Returns and it’s Fully Online

+3.85 million children and teachers engaged in 2019

AfriCanCode Challenge calls for Courageous Coders and Plugged-In Pupils

Virtual model and mobile app will offer free open-source digital training to 54 African countries

digital literacy Archives - 51��Africa News Center

51��Africa Code Week Returns and it’s Fully Online