Over 100 youths benefitting from ICT summer programme
Over 100 participants are engaged in the Office of the Prime Minister- Industry and Innovation Unit’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) summer camp.
The five-day programme, which began on Monday, is being held at the Dolphin Secondary School.
The youths are receiving instructions in the areas of Innovation and Communication Technology, the fundamentals of Information Technology, as well as introduction to computer coding.
DPI spoke with a few participants, who lauded the programme.
Fourteen-year-old Keyah Sadloo expressed that the programme has taught her a lot about the basics of Information Technology.
“It’s great. It has given me a higher level of learning about computers,” she said.
Another participant, Jewelz Hamilton, who was previously engaged in robotics training, related that the programme has helped to reinforce his knowledge in ICT.
“It’s an amazing programme, it’s educational, and you can learn a lot of stuff, especially with robots, and it helps people that don’t really know that much about how to use Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.”
Divine Williams, who was also previously engaged in robotics training, hopes to pursue a career as a petroleum engineer.
“Since I’ve been here, I’ve already learned some things that I hadn’t learned before in the other classes,” she related.
Many participants also expressed that the programme will aid their studies for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.
The Industry and Innovations Unit’s Planning Coordinator, Shawn Coonjah, disclosed that the aim of the programme is to create awareness of several areas of Innovations and Communications Technology.
“We’re also looking to go beyond the basics, and we’re looking to do things that introduce students to robotics, web development, and importantly coding and programming as well.”
The ICT camp is open to youths aged 13-18, and is the Demerara leg of the three ICT summer camp training programmes being conducted countrywide.