By Lukman Olabiyi
EKOEXCEL, a flagship basic education transformation programme, enacted by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in 2019, has continued to receive accolade from stakeholders with the recent participation of pupils from the state in the Hour of Code lessons.
The Hour of Code is a global computer science initiative by code.org that creates a fun and creative environment for pupils to be introduced to the concepts of computer programming. It is designed to make coding simple, show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science.
The yearly program which was held last weekend, with theme:” Learn Computer Science. Change The World.”,
According to Hadi Partovi, founder and CEO of Code.org, “The Hour of Code is designed to demystify code and show that computer science is not rocket science—anybody can learn the basics and Over 100 million students worldwide have tried an Hour of Code. The demand for relevant 21st-century computer science education crosses all borders and knows no boundaries.”
During the hour-long event, pupils participated in a lesson focused on computers and coding. They worked individually and in small groups to answer questions based on the lesson being taught. At the completion of the Hour of Code, pupils received orange stickers stating, ‘I Did the Hour of Code!’.
After the lesson was completed, Emenalm Solomon, a primary 5 pupil of St. Francis Nursery and Primary School, Maryland said he learned that computers make work easier and faster and also grasped that there are different types of computers. He stated that he really liked the lesson and would like to do it again.
Another primary 5 pupil, Goodness George said “I gained that computers have so many types and we have to pick one out of them to show that we really know about the lesson” In addition, she stated that she really liked the lesson because they did practicals on how to operate the computer, how to turn it on, how to make the computer sleep and how to turn it off and she wishes that she could do the practicals again.
Assistant head teacher at St. Francis Nursery and Primary School, Mrs. Bolaji Caroline acknowledged the effectiveness of the initiative, she said “it helps pupils know what a code is and the pupils can relate numbers to alphabets, therefore they can learn to decode numbers as symbols. It gives them a good knowledge about what code is allowing them to be able to code and decode”.
Technology is transforming every industry on the planet. Learning computer science is essential for pupils to thrive in the 21st century. Regardless of what they want to be when they grow up, knowing how to build technology will give them confidence and a competitive edge and this event gives them a head start.
The Hour of Code has served more than 100 million students in 180 countries who participated at the same time in an Hour of Code event last year. In December 2021, students from all over the world will run an Hour of Code event together in over 45 languages and EKOEXCEL pupils are hopeful that they would continue to join their peers all around the world in the program.
EKOEXCEL trained teachers helped the pupils prepare for the international event by raising their interest in IT, answering their questions, and encouraging them to keep learning.
About EKOEXCEL
EKOEXCEL is a government designed, funded programme introduced in 2019. The initiative adopts a more scientific approach to basic education in Lagos state with the use of information technology.
EKOExcel, is a developmental solution aimed to help teachers become more effective through both up-front and on-the-job training round the year. The initiative Introduces new teaching methods to support and empower teachers for success.
About Hour Of Code
The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify “code”, to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science.
It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts.