Africa Teen Geeks and various South African universities will take part in the global Computer Science Week by hosting and teaching thousands of children from disadvantaged areas how to code.

Computer Science Week, which takes place this December, is part of the Hour of Code program hosted from the 7th to 14th December in over 180 countries, with the aim of introducing children to basic coding.

UNISA regional labs, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Stellenbosch University, the University of Free State, the University of the Western Cape and other institutions will conduct workshops with over 20 000 kids over the eight days.

Africa Teen Geeks previously held the Festival of Code hackathon in June with 100 learners from around the country.

“During the Festival of Code, the excitement and hunger to learn from the kids was something to behold. We definitely had to do this on a larger scale, hence the Computer Science Week,” Lindiwe Mashinini, CEO and Founder of Africa Teen Geeks, said in a statement.

In February this year, Africa Teen Geeks was one of the recipients of the Google RISE Awards and were given a grant towards promoting their efforts to increase access to computer science for young people.

If you’re interested in taking part in a Computer Science Week workshop nearest to you, or know someone who would, you can contact Africa Teen Geeks via its website.

“Computer science carries a stigma of being a very difficult subject, particularly amongst previously disadvantaged communities. My desire is to do away with this perception, and get more and more young kids from rural areas and the townships pursuing careers in IT,” Mashinini said.