Government commences Code Lagos Initiative 2018 | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
8th April 2018
The Lagos State government has announced that it will on Monday, 8th April commence the next phase of the Code Lagos Initiative.
A press statement signed by Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Education, Obafela Bank-Olemoh indicated that the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode would expand the scope of the project.
EduCeleb.com reports that since 2016, Code Lagos has been designed to teach basic coding skills to 1 million Lagos residents and has successfully trained 15,000 individuals since then.
The expanded scope of Code Lagos would cater for Lagos residents above 16, and who are not currently enrolled in a primary or secondary school.
Mr Bank-Olemoh noted that the free coding classes would hold in Herbert Macaulay Library, Yaba; Isolo Public Library, Isolo; Ilupeju Public Library, Ilupeju; and Onikan Youth Centre, Onikan, and that “additional centers including other Lagos State public libraries, community centers and private training centers are scheduled to roll out in a few weeks.”
The special adviser further stated that coding classes would commence in 400 primary and secondary schools in the new academic term.
“We will continue to train students in Scratch, Python and Mobile App development, depending on their level. This term we will also be introducing Oracle’s Alice and Greenfoot programming languages, through a partnership with Oracle Academy,” the Special Adviser said.
Bank-Olemoh also noted that Governor Ambode recently approved the release of fund for the payment of 224 CodeLagos facilitators.
According to him, “Facilitators in the government schools receive a Code Lagos grant of N25, 000 per term while the facilitators in private schools receive a grant of N20,000.”
“The grants are to compensate the additional time spent for prep work and to help cover some basic expenses like data purchase for personal learning and development. All CodeLagos facilitators are trained free of charge by Lagos State and receive support and resources throughout the term. Another round of training has been scheduled to hold this April as we commence the new term.”
He added that Governor Ambode had mandated them to prepare Lagosians for the future economy. “
“I believe we can educate one million people in the language of the future. Our success in Lagos State will create a ripple effect across Nigeria, and if we can change Nigeria, we can change Africa. If we can change Africa, we can undoubtedly change the world”, he said.
He said the progress of the Code Lagos programme can be tracked online on www.codelagos.org