As Exilesoft prepares to take on the honour of sponsoring DevDay SL for the fourth consecutive year, the company has announced, this time, they will hold a special surprise for all young computer enthusiasts.
DevDay SL is a conference for all developers in the country, and features a number of experts in the field who will address the gathering on various topics on digital innovation. This year’s conference program includes a special session, ‘Kids Can Code’; a workshop designed to help children between the ages of 9-14 to understand the basics of computer programming.
“Our goal is to teach children how to code. We believe, a basic understanding of software engineering provides a set of fundamental skills that is vital, both, to the child’s future in any industry, and the future of the global economy. It’s not just about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, but also about arts: being able to think critically about problems is the first step to finding solutions. An early introduction to Computer Science is an investment in the future,by liberating the creativity of children from conventional thinking,” commented Finn Worm Peterson, CEO, Exilesoft (Pvt) Ltd.
Initiated by Exilesoft, in collaboration with ICT Norway and SLASSCOM, the objective of ‘Kids Can Code’ is to build awareness among the general public about the value of computing and programing.
The workshop is a prelude to the launch of the Dev Kids Code Club in Sri Lanka. The Club will provide an opportunity for parents and volunteers to meet and enrich children with programming skills. This initiative has gained rapid popularity in many countries in Europe, Australia and Asia, to actively teach children to code.
By reaching all across the country through the Club, Exilesoft hopes to share and teach children the importance of computer programming, as well as, encourage contribution towards the goal of national computer literacy by 2020.
Elaborating further, Peterson said, “In Sri Lanka, there are initiatives to extend the concepts of coding and computer science to the school curriculum and we are happy to initiate Kids Coding in Sri Lanka.
The Coding club will be inaugurated with DevDay Developer conference and continue every month at Exilesoft premises, free of charge. We believe, many more companies, social groups and individuals will learn from our experience and initiate more Kids Code Clubs in urban and rural Sri Lanka, in the coming months and years and join the global initiative”.