In August 2018, Tekly engaged over 20 kids in Akure, Ondo State and trained them in a four (4) weeks long summer camp. See interesting feedbacks and stories from our summer camp.

The summer camp had two class the teens class age 13- 17 and the kids class age 7-12, curriculum covered in the camp were programming with scratch, productivity tools like Microsoft word and PowerPoint for presentations, web development with html & css, Python programming, Introduction to Virtual Reality (VR), 3D Printing and Drones.

Tekly code camp is a program to train 700 kids & teens and 30 computer science teachers in Benin, Edo State, Nigeria. We are training 30 teachers after which we support them to train at least 20 kids in their respective schools. We are also training about 100 kids in our hub in Benin during the same week.

Tekly code camp is supported by Google is part of the Africa Code Week 2018 program. It is supported by Google, SAP, UNESCO, Cape Town Science Centre and Edo Jobs and features in the Africa code week 2018 events.

Mark Zuckerberg started programming when he was 10, Bill Gates at 13 and they have grown to birthed giant tech companies, it’s not debate that for African kids & teens to have strong coding and digital skills a personal computer is crucial to their development. This is the reason why we are launching a campaign to encourage, parents, philanthropies, Government, Interest groups to buy a computer for a child at least from age seven (7).

We are doing this by;

• Educating parents on the advantage of a child getting a computer early
• We are also speaking with computer manufacturers and retailers to have flexible payment plans to encourage parents.
• We are reaching out to philanthropies for donation of computers, and also encouraging government to do the same.
• We are also encouraging individuals to donate used computers either in good condition or faulty.
• We have also partnered with Tab Digitals a computer hardware company to help fix used computers so they can be available for others, whose parents are not affluent.

We want to get 5000 kids a computer by June 2019.

Due to lack of exposure to computer science and STEM, it is difficult for an African kid or teen to develop interest in coding or digital skills and build a career in IT. Tekly is also reaching out to kids to make them have first-hand experience with not just digital skills and coding but with other new technologies like VR, drones, IOT, 3D Manufacturing and robotics.

We believe this experience will stimulate their interest in computer science, which is important for their further development.

The safer internet day event is a global event that often hold every year in February, the program was started as an intervention program to many kids and teens who have fallen victim of cyber bullying leading to depression, and many more victims of several unsafe practices online.

SID is a day where we engage with students and enlighten them on best practices online and staying safe online.

In February 2018, we hosted about 75 students from 7 schools on SID event. Some of the activities were panel sessions, quiz, debates and fun activities.

2019 edition also followed the same approach of 2018, however this time we went to the schools to teach them about best practices online rather than inviting them over. We reach 3 schools in Akure Ondo state, Nigeria and hosted one of them for a tech excursion.