Cape Town: The City libraries are getting in on the coding action again and is ready to host the in-house coding sessions on Mandela Day for the date July 18, 2024. Ones with the highest scores will go through to the national competition, in October and then the World Tournament in December.
Last year in 2023, 26 teams participated and this year a number is set to increase. Some Libraries also have only one team and therefore have joined the forces and partnered with their local schools, forming more than 30 teams for the upcoming tournament.
Reportedly, the winners of the library-level competition sessions will be entered onto a database with their scores and times considering the top three teams from each area i.e. Nort, South, East and West and will then move on to the final round.
The finals will be hosted on July 31, 2024 or on August 01, 2024. The twelve teams will go head-to-head to determine the top three City teams. It is these three teams who will be in the running to represent Cape Town in the national and World Tournament competitions.
Earlier, in 2023 the final tournament attracted participants from Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Germany and the US along with the three participating City libraries, originally placed in the top-10.
Notably, Coding is an engagement project of the Nelson Mandela University Computing Sciences Department and the Leva Foundation. Tangible Africa is responsible for creating coding applications, TANKS and RANGERS, that allow participants to play offline, using minimal resources.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Services and Health – Councillor Patricia Van der Ross said that there is no doubt that children learn through play and coding is a fun way to improve on logic and problem-solving skills. Since then, coding was introduced to the libraries two years ago and it has grown in leaps and bounds.
Ross emphasised that coding enhances creativity. They have come up with the solutions that they can’t procrastinate. She encouraged that the young patrons now are ready to sign up and get involved at their library. It is just few hours of social and recreational interaction.
The Unplugged coding allowed libraries to bring coding to communities who do not have access to expensive resources.
