The COVID-19 Pandemic had a socio-economic impact on all sectors of the country beyond the health challenges. The education sector is one of the hardest hit.
The President announced the closure of all schools as part of measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Private schools adopted online tools to continue educating their students.
However, the majority of students in public schools across the country were left behind because they do not have access to the internet and digital devices. The pandemic brought to light the stark inequalities and digital divide in Ghana's educational sector.
We took the bold decision to implement programs that would keep young people in Ho engaged once the COVID-19 restriction was relaxed. Node Hub rolled out a six-week coding class for the Alphas generation dubbed "Node Alpha Bootcamp". The program was implemented under strict covid-19 protocols of washing hands, social distancing, and the wearing of masks.
The Bootcamp provided a safe space for children between the ages of 8-14 to learn and develop new skills in the fundamentals of coding and design thinking. The pedagogies used in teaching the kids recognized the uniqueness of each child hence provided the needed assistance to help them understand coding, develop their creative and problem-solving skills individually and through a collaborative task.
On the Demo-Day -a showcase of their projects to their parents- the alphas presented individual projects such as games, dance-parties moves, and a website. The demo day also aimed at building the confidence and public speaking skills of the alphas.
The star of the demo day was 12 years old, Jason Dzamesi who challenged himself to build a simple website that was beyond the scope of the curriculum. Jason shared his thoughts on the program after his demo.
“I want to dip dive into coding now. This class has exposed me to the coding world so much I want to be a software developer in the future.”
Parents interested in enrolling the kids into the second cohort of the Node Alpha Coding Bootcamp should contact 0545101172.
Here are some photos of the Node Alpha demo day: