dream of becoming a cartoon or application (app) developer is now being realised for several young women who are currently being trained by the Public Telecommunications Ministry to develop their skills.
About 30 girls between the ages of 14 and 18 are involved in a code camp, which will help them realise their dreams during a five-week programme.
The camp commenced two weeks ago and will wind down by August 23.
The Brand Ambassador attached to the Ministry, Samantha Sheoprashad, explained the importance of the camp. According to her, “There are 65 million girls worldwide who are not in school and about 1.4 billion girls who are not educated and we notice that girls are mostly affected, and that is why we chose to focus on girls in coding or girls in programming”.
Being a programmer herself, Sheoprashad said she knows for a fact that not many girls are involved in this field, hence, the need to expose them more.
Presently, the girls are involved in activities such as scratch and block lead programming, coding, problem solving, storytelling and learning about the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs). They are also being taught how to use programming to solve problems relating to the SDGs.
By the end of the classes, Sheoprashad hopes to develop an app, with the girls’ help, to tackle one of the social ills affecting Guyanese. When Guyana Times arrived at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre at Liliendall, Greater Georgetown, where the camp is being held, the girls were busy making a presentation on suicide.
One participant, 14-year-old Charlene Wilkinson, who attends Queenstown Secondary School, said the camp has been very “useful” to her, given that it affords her the opportunity to develop her computer skills. The teen said she is most happy with the fact that she can now help others in this area. She said, “So far, we have been learning about programming, learning to code, and my experience with the other girls has been fun as we share our ideas and learn from each other”.
Another 14-year-old student, N-Tasha Jones, also of Queenstown Secondary, explained, “I find the programme educational because it taught me more about computers, so it will build up my skills. So far, I have learnt about animations, how to write a simple document in word and building a presentation”.
In addition to Queenstown Secondary, girls are also participating from schools such as St Joseph High, East Ruimveldt, Lodge and St Mary’s Secondary.
At the end of the programme, they will be awarded with a certificate. This is the Ministry’s second annual Girls’ Code Camp.
