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Advisory Board Established For Girls Who Code Programme

By: , August 26, 2015

The Key Point:

Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Julian Robinson, says an advisory board has been established to guide the activities of the Jamaican Girls Who Code programme.
Advisory Board Established For Girls Who Code Programme
Photo: file
Minister of State in the Ministry of Science Technology, Energy and Mining (MSTEM), Hon. Julian Robinson, addresses a JIS Think Tank.

The Facts

  • He was speaking at the award ceremony for 40 primary school students, who participated in the 2015 Jamaican Girls Who Code summer camp.
  • Mr. Robinson informed that the advisory board’s immediate plan is to get the girls to continue utilising the coding technology in their community.

The Full Story

Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Julian Robinson, says an advisory board has been established to guide the activities of the Jamaican Girls Who Code programme.

The board, of which Mr. Robinson is the only male, was established earlier this year, and followed the staging of the inaugural Girls Who Code summer camp in 2014.

“It (the advisory board) is to map out the types of things we want to do with the young ladies, not just in summer but to have a continuous environment where they can be learning even in school,” Minister Robinson said.

He was speaking at the award ceremony for 40 primary school students, who participated in the 2015 Jamaican Girls Who Code summer camp. The function was held today (August 25), at the General Accident training room in St. Andrew.

Mr. Robinson informed that the advisory board’s immediate plan is to get the girls to continue utilising the coding technology in their community.

He said the board will also be looking at how the Tablets in School programme can be leveraged to benefit the young ladies.

The Technology Minister noted that the objective is to get more women involved in the technology industry.

“We want to close the gap in the disparity that exists between males and females in tech-related industries,” he said.

He hailed the Jamaican Girls Who Code Programme, which is in partnership with the Musson and Seprod Foundations, noting that it “provides a platform to expose them (girls) to what they can use the technology to do.”

During the awards ceremony, the girls were presented with certificates and gift bags containing various niceties from Seprod.

 

For two weeks this summer, the girls, from inner city communities in Kingston and who are under the age of 18 years, gained valuable experience, having been exposed to robotics, mobile development, HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

They also benefitted from the expertise of experienced mentors in the international information, communication and technology (ICT) industry such as Cynthia Solomon, Brian Silverman and Artemis Papert.

Minister Robinson congratulated the girls on their participation in the camp and encouraged them to continue building on what they learnt during the two weeks.

Meanwhile, plans are already underway for the hosting of another coding workshop in the summer of 2016.

Chairman of the Seprod and Musson Foundations, Melanie Subratie, expressed elation at the coming to fruition of the Jamaican Girls Who Code Programme.

Last Updated: August 26, 2015

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