Alex school children learn how to code

For the second year running, Accenture employees took time off from their hectic schedule to inspire students from Diepsloot,  Alexandra, and Soweto to learn code and to develop computer science skills to prepare them for the digital economy.

Accenture collaborated with code.org to support Hour of Code, a global educational movement that reaches tens of millions of students through a one-hour introduction to computer science and computer programming.

As part of Accenture’s commitment to teach students how to learn coding and computer science skills, Accenture employees – in more than 200 cities across 55 countries – pledged to complete more than 10 000 hours of code during Computer Science Education Week, which was from 5 to 11 December.

This included more than 2 000 hours pledged by Accenture employees who led local events, and volunteers at schools in their communities, and worked with teachers and code.org to help students learn the basics of coding through online tutorials that inspire students to continue learning.

Read Hour of Code brings hope to youths

In South Africa, Accenture hosted an Hour of Code Hackathon in Johannesburg for the youngsters from Alexandra, Soweto and Diepsloot. “The hackathon is designed to prove that anyone can learn the basics of coding, have fun doing it and continue learning beyond an hour,” said Khethiwe Nkuna, corporate citizenship lead for Accenture in South Africa.

“The need for more computer science graduates has never been greater. Last year, there were 500 000 new computing jobs available in the US but only 40 000 qualified graduates to fill them. We all must do more to close the skills gap and prepare students to join the workforce of the future,” said Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology and innovation officer and chief coder.

“In today’s digital world, exposing each and every student – particularly girls and minorities – to coding is just as critical as teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. I am proud of the personal commitments Accenture employees are making to help introduce students to computer programming and the vast opportunities available to them in the computer science field.

“Every student in every school should have access to computer science in order to become literate citizens of today’s digital world and explore the possibilities of computer science careers,” said Hadi Partovi, co-founder and CEO of code.org

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