Eighty students from across Jamaica are currently participating in a Tech Bloc Coding Camp being staged by the Young Scholars Foundation Education Limited.
The camp, which started on July 26 and is set to end on August 21, is being done under a public-private partnership between the Young Scholars and the Ministry of National Security.
In addition, the Ministry of Education and Youth, as well as other partners, has assisted in the camp’s administration.
Managing Director for Young Scholars Education Limited, Shanese Watson, explained the rationale for the camp.
“We wanted to actually target students who were seeking alternative ways of learning and find alternative ways of learning for at-risk youth. The tech block coding camp is a quick six-week training course,” she outlined.
Approximately 40 of the students who are involved in the camp are from the National Security Ministry’s Inter Ministerial School Strategy.
This initiative is a collaborative effort with the Ministry of Education and Youth.
It aims to provide assessment, recommendation, intervention and support for children displaying maladaptive behaviour in select schools.
“The camp targets students who have technical or IT skills but are seeking to expand and get further training opportunities in that area. The camp focuses on both traditional high-school students, and we have incorporated at-risk youth in which we are using this as a pilot project to increase their level of literacy and performance in schools,” Ms. Watson said.
The students engaged are between ages 13 and 19. The camp is done using the hybrid format where lessons are delivered in person and virtually.
“We have the coding aspect where we partner with the UWI (University of the West Indies), UCC (University of the Commonwealth Caribbean) and UTech (University of Technology), and they help us to teach the students coding. For the robotics aspect, we partner with the private sector, where they train the students and expose them to robotics and what it has to offer,” Ms. Watson informed.
Meanwhile Project Manager for Social Interventions with the Citizens Security Secretariat at the Ministry of National Security, Georgiana Clarke, told that the partnership is in line with the Inter-Ministerial School Strategy.
“The Ministry has undertaken a comprehensive, inclusive and holistic approach to achieving citizen security, and this involves really zoning in on the root causes of issues within communities. We were able to conclude that addressing the issues required partnerships,” Ms. Clarke said.
“Through these strategies, we have decided to partner with the Tech Bloc Coding Camp so that we can expose students to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills and help them develop coding camps within schools and help to mentor students,” she added.
