PRESS RELEASE – Kosovo’s Young Coders Compete in the “Festival of Code”
“Anyone can learn how to program, all you need is work and dedication” stated the 10 year old Lum Axhemi, who together with his other nine peers will represent Kosovo for the first time in the international competition of coding and programming “Festival of Code 2014”, which this year will be held in Great Britain.
Prishtinë, July 30 —Ten children from Kosovo aged between 9-15 years old, who are part of the “Young Coders” group, will participate in the international competition the “Festival of Code 2014” which will be held from July 29th until August the 3rd in Great Britain. The “Festival of Code” is part of the global initiative “Young Rewired State” which is a children’s network under 18 years old, who have programming skills.
Throughout the whole week, the children according to their imagination will have the opportunity to code and program games, mobile applications, webpages, or other hardware products.
The “Young Coders” project was initiated from the Kosovo Association of Information and Communication Technology (STIKK), in cooperation with the Innovation Centre Kosovo (ICK). The project was sponsored from ’Enhancing Youth Employment EYE, financed from Swiss Office for Development and Cooperation SDC, implemented from Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation HSI and Management Development Associates MDA and supported by “IPKO Foundation”, “Frutomania”, “Proper Pizza” and “City Bakery”.
The official ceremony of the team from Kosovo entering this competition was organized at the Innovation Centre Kosovo (ICK). Mjellma Hapçiu – Alijaj, host of the event, emphasized that in this particular day, a 4 month journey of training the children ended and a new one started for the children of Kosovo who are willing to expand their knowledge of programming. “We are very happy that all children who have been part of the training phase, did not give up, and are ready to compete as of today with their peers from Europe and the United States,” said Mrs. Hapçiu – Alijaj.
The executive director of the Kosovo Association of Information and Communication (STIKK), Vjollca Çavolli said that she was very proud with the children. “These children give us hope and optimism for the future of our country” said Mrs. Çavolli, adding that the children should not take this challenge too hard, but consider it as a game. “This week you will play, have fun and show the world that Kosovo as well has talented people that belong to this field” ended Mrs. Çavolli.
The director of the Innovation Centre, Mr.Uranik Begu said that they are very pleased with the performance of the children’s group and their cooperation with STIKK. “We have been expecting this collaboration with great pleasure, knowing that this is the first generation of young coders, and that professionals in the field of ICT, should start coding at a very young age,” said Mr. Begu. “This is the beginning of a long-term collaboration that will create new generations of young coders, and why not lobby for coding to be introduced as a subject in primary schools, similar as in many developed countries,” he concluded.
The children’s group during this competition, same as in the training phase, will be led by Mr. Driton Haxhiu (Expert in Programming), which will have the support of the other mentors / students: Doruntina Sadiku, Enkela Osmani and Fitore Salihu. Mr. Haxhiu said that the children have been very patient and active throughout this 4 month period. “It will be a very busy week, so I believe that the children will have the same commitment, so that we can end up with good results in this competition,” stressed Mr. Haxhiu.
The young coders who will represent Kosovo in this competition are: Doruntina Hoti (12), Enkelena Haxhiu (15), Jozef Komani (14), Erina Gashi (12), Lekë Hapçiu (14), Gentiana Hajdari (12), Leonard Ibrahimi (12), Gresa Isufi (14), Lorenc Ramadani (15) and Lum Axhemi (12).
All participating countries in the “Festival of Code” will present their final projects on Sunday, August 3, 2014, when the winners will be announced.
