Google, the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Nigeria’s CcHUB have come together and selected 150 students from 5 public secondary schools across Lagos state will have the opportunity to join CcHUB’s Geeks Club. Geeks Club is an after-school computing club for secondary school students in Nigeria. Providing a co-curricular outlet, Geeks Club engages students in secondary school and provides them with new tools, resources and skills to creatively express themselves. Through the Geeks Club students are introduced to software and hardware programming, thereby creating a new generation of technology users and makers. The curriculum is built around the Raspberry Pi, notable for its versatility and relative affordability, which also provides an exciting, interactive way for kids to learn. Running during the regular academic terms, students are introduced to software and hardware programming using Scratch, HTML/CSS and Python. According to Desiree CRAIG, technical lead, Youth Education Programme, Geeks Club does not just provide students with technical skills, but also lays emphasis on developing their soft skills, skills such as team-work and collaboration, communication, presentation and project management. “Through the well crafted curriculum and curated projects, students are also able to enhance their critical reasoning abilities. At the end of the programme students come away well-rounded. In addition, students who have an interest in pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) related careers have an additional advantage from the head-start provided by Geeks Club. “On a much larger scale, Geeks Club provides an opportunity to further bridge the digital divide by providing the skills and technology critical for raising the right innovators, capable of contributing to the development of their society, by creatively expressing themselves. Through our partnership with Google and the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Geeks Club is available for free, to students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds, thereby reducing the effects of the economic gap and providing these students with a more equal footing in life,” CRAIG said.
