(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency) Amman, Nov. 15 (Petra) -- Edraak and Code.org, with support from the World Bank, have joined forces to create an online coding program designed specifically for children in the Arab world based on Code.org's K-12 curriculum. Young students of all ages will be able to access over 150 online lessons for free to learn computer science fundamentals.
According to statement on Sunday, the 'Coding @Edraak Program' helps young children learn coding skills and advance in the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education field. The collaboration aims to prepare children for a competitive job market by teaching them how to code at an early age and gain essential digital skills needed to bridge the market's talent gap.
Comprising three components, the program adopts a gamified approach to teach students the basics of coding. The first part consists of two express courses, the Pre-reader Express Course for ages 4 to 8, and the Express Course for ages 9 to 18. The program's second part is called Computer Science Fundamentals based on Code.org's curriculum with the same name - and includes six comprehensive courses, while the third part contains a selection of popular Hour of Code tutorials designed for students to try coding for the first time and inspire them to pursue further instruction, the statement added.
This strategic partnership, it said, between Edraak, Code.org, and the World Bank underlines the importance of collaboration between key stakeholders to present children and youth with online learning opportunities that equip them with 21st century skills. Building on existing resources and networks to scale impact, the collaboration ensures that learning solutions are developed in a manner that is consistent with regional and local contexts to ensure the program's success.
Over the course of eight months, the program's content based on Code.org's CS Fundamentals curriculum and Hour of Code tutorials, which include coding games, puzzles, and video lectures were localized and in some cases recreated in Arabic. Additionally, tech tools were updated to reflect the Arabic language right-to-left reading and writing order to offer students a seamless and engaging learning experience.
Commenting on the partnership, World Bank Mashreq Regional Director Saroj Kumar Jha said: "The World Bank is pleased to have supported this digital skills initiative through its Skilling Up Mashreq program. Partnerships between key international and regional digital technology players are critical in equipping young women and men in MENA with the digital skills needed for tomorrow's jobs and the World Bank is uniquely positioned to provide a convening platform, technical advice and financial support."
"In an increasingly digital world, computer science is a foundational subject that all students should be able to access and pursue," said Hadi Partovi, Founder and CEO of Code.org. "These 21st century skills, like coding, computational thinking, problem-solving, and artificial intelligence are some of the many computer science concepts that will help students to be successful in the future," he added.
Emphasizing the importance of this collaboration for Edraak's mission of providing high quality content to its 4 million users across the MENA region, CEO of Edraak, Shireen Yacoub, said "we are proud to work with Code.org and the World Bank on this coding program that combines engaging features and tested instructional content to help children develop a key skill. These resources are available to parents, students, and teachers for free and are customizable to meet their individual needs.
The program's launch expands Edraak's current K-12 platform offerings to include computer science, in addition to the pre-existing Math and English as a Second Language courses. This content in Arabic will also be available for the Arab speakers amongst the over 55 million students with accounts in the Code.org platform worldwide.
AJ
15/11/2020 16:55:53

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