Over 32 000 youth across Africa and Asia participated in the annual global #Coding4Mandela tournament, with 70 teams set to go through to the national finals in September.
Facilitated by the Department of Computing Sciences at Nelson Mandela University (NMU), in partnership with Tangible Africa and the Leva Foundation, the coding tournament kicked off on Mandela Day.
Tangible Africa is an engagement project of NMU’s computing sciences department and Leva, headquartered in Gqeberha. Limited online resources are needed to play its coding games − Rangers, Boats annd Tanks − which encourage the development of 21st century skills by learning through play.
According to a statement, over 70 winning teams from different sites were announced this week from participating countries, including Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Indonesia and all the provinces across SA.
The challenge, themed “igniting potential, impacting tomorrow”, set by professor Jean Greyling, Tangible Africa founder and head of the department and associate professor at the NMU computing sciences department, exceeded the target of 30 000 participating youth.
“Our vision is to make the #Coding4Mandela movement an annual, national event in South Africa. Some of the participating schools this year had all the learners from their entire school participate in various coding activities, including the Rangers game. A popular activity was a song and dance game, with more than 70 schools and organisations sending videos of the #Coding4Mandela dance,” says Greyling.
The #Coding4Mandela event started as a small local tournament in Gqeberha in 2018, she notes. It then grew to become a national event in 2022. Last year, over 16 000 learners from across the country and other parts of the continent took part.
Various sites across SA hosted the virtual challenge, including Robben Island, the offices of the Nelson Mandela Foundationin Houghton, Bizana Garden of Remembrance, the Captivity Site outside Howick, the Albert Luthuli Museum in Durban and the Boardwalk Shopping Centre in Gqeberha.
Partners from Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique also reported success at their events, with five schools competing at Soroti University in Uganda.
This week, Sean Sampson, MD of design agency 11&1, announced the winners of the Dutoit Juicy Gems challenge hosted in partnership with Tangible Africa, where #Coding4Mandela participants could win R30 000 worth of prizes.
West End Primary School in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, won a R10 000 cash prize, and Bukho Dladla from LEAP Science and Maths School in Langa, Cape Town, received a laptop.
Manorvlei Primary School in Tzaneen, Limpopo, was randomly chosen in a lucky draw, receiving a cash prize of R10 000.
The 70 Mandela Day top finalist teams will compete virtually in the national Dutoit Juicy Gems #Coding4Mandela competition in September. Thereafter, five top teams will be selected to participate in the virtual World Coding Championships in December.
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