Grade 7 learners from nine Johannesburg schools competed in the finals of the Code Tank Competition on 10 October at Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown to prove their competency and skills in coding.
The competition was organised by the City’s Department of Libraries and Information which invited schools from each of the five regions within Johannesburg and comprised of a unique set of puzzles and gadgets using software designed by Professor Jean Greyling from the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth.
The winners of the 45-minute competition were Blairgowrie Primary School, followed by Lekang Primary School from Soweto and Mikateka Primary School from Ivory Park respectively. These three received trophies as well as educational games to enhance their coding skills and medals.
Marlboro Secondary School, from Region E in the Johannesburg north-east suburbs, also made it to the finals, but, unfortunately, failed to complete their session, and ended up in the bottom three.
According to the director of the City’s library department, Nobantu Mpendulo, the competition looks at various programmes aimed at assisting children to prepare for the new National Department of Education’s planned curriculum, expected to be introduced soon. “These coding programmes help prepare children and the country for the [ongoing] digital transformation in line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR),” Mpedulo said.
“It teaches children problem-solving skills and teamwork since it enables them to collaborate and work together on a programme or a project. On Tank Coding Competition, children learn basics things of coding and today they will out-power each other and prove their competence.”
He added that this is an ongoing programme, “A few of our identified libraries already have mobile e-learning classrooms to teach children about coding and other tech-friendly programmes.”
Professor Greyling emphasised the need for schools to seriously look at introducing coding as a subject as it will help the country to become part of the global village, especially in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. “We desperately need it as a country, considering also that South Africa is one of the biggest computer programme software exporters to various countries, including Europe and America.
“Children need to start dreaming as possible coders and schools, [and] especially their teachers need to start encouraging them to practice it.”
Details: jeffny@joburg.org.za
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