Vodafone Turkey Foundation and Habitat Association Continue to Build Technology Classes in Villages

" TECHNOLOGY CLASSES FROM THE "CODING TOMORROW" PROJECT TO 30 RURAL SCHOOLS

Launched by Vodafone Turkey Foundation and Habitat Association 6 years ago, the "Coding Tomorrow" project continues to contribute to education with technology classes established in rural areas. Within the scope of the project, fully-equipped technology classes were also opened in 30 village schools, while over 6,000 children, including the surrounding villages, were provided with technology training. The project aims to reach 45 schools in total by opening technology classes in 15 more schools soon.

Launched to raise generations ready for the digital future by Vodafone Turkey Foundation and Habitat Association, the "Coding Tomorrow" project continues to grow with the steps taken to provide equal opportunities in education. Thanks to the project, well-equipped technology classes were opened in 30 rural schools to expand the accessibility of technology for students in rural areas. As part of the project, which reached over 6,000 children, including the surrounding villages, students receive training on various technology topics, primarily coding, in the classrooms equipped with projectors, 3D pens, computers, 3D printers, education, and STEM kits, and communication & event tools for Zoom. The project, including special meetings and training for families, has reached around 2,500 parents until today. The project aims to reach 45 schools in total by opening technology classes in 15 more schools soon.

The activities performed as part of the "Rural Schools" project, a sub-project of "Coding Tomorrow", were shared at the meeting held in Gaziantep. After the meeting, with the participation of Vodafone Turkey CEO Engin Aksoy and Habitat Association Chair Sezai Hazır, the technology class that was opened at Gaziantep Yamaçoba Primary School was also visited.

Engin Aksoy, the CEO of Vodafone Turkey, said:

"As Vodafone Turkey, we act with the aim of being a goal-oriented company worldwide. Vodafone Turkey Foundation has an important role in these goals. As the Foundation, we have reached 4.2 million people with 16 social projects with a real value of 104.3 million TRY. With the 'Coding Tomorrow' project, we provide coding training to children aged 7-14 all over our country. Since the beginning of our project, we have reached over 280,000 children. With the "Rural Schools" project, a sub-project of "Coding Tomorrow", we increase the technology literacy of our children by opening fully-equipped technology classes in village schools in various parts of our country. To date, we have opened technology classes in 30 schools. With our training, we reached over 6,000 children, including the surrounding villages, and around 2,500 parents in one year. We aim to open technology classes in 15 more village schools. Thus, the total number of our technology classes will increase to 45. Also, we aim to reach 360 villages with mobile training and deliver our training to 10,000 more children. As Vodafone Turkey Foundation, we are happy to open technology classes in rural schools, have technology brought to them, and create an opportunity for our students who need digitalization but do not have access. We will continue to help our children in rural schools in terms of equipment and education with the technology classes we have opened and will open."

Chair of the Habitat Association, Sezai Hazır, stated:

"We believe that technology is of great importance for the development of our country. With this vision, we launched the 'Coding Tomorrow' project 6 years ago. With this project, we provide training so that our children become individuals that do not only consume technology but also produce it. Last year, we decided to support rural schools. Our goal is to improve the digital skills of children by openning technology classes in schools. We also aim to create a digital learning ecosystem within the school by enhancing the skills of our teachers in schools such as coding and 3D design. Thus, both teachers and children contribute to this process by sharing the things they learn with each other. That's why we believe a technology classroom must be an interactive space. With our project, we will continue to work to reach more children in rural schools."

Training on 35 different topics under 3 primary headings

In the technology classes opened as part of the "Rural Schools" project, students receive training on 35 different subjects under 3 main headings. Accordingly, primary and secondary school students receive training under topics such as "I Write My First Code", "I Draw My Puppet", "Visual Effects", "I Develop My Own Game", and "Fishing Game". While primary school students receive Tinkercad training on topics such as "Making Keychains", "Making Gift Boxes", "Patterned Pencil Holder Design", "Championship Cup", and "Lego Design", middle secondary students receive Micro:bit training on topics such as "Micro:bit and Sensors", "Using Dot Matrix", "LED Control with Two Buttons", and "Working with Development Board". Each class also has a science library corner.

2 teachers in each school provide volunteer support

A staff of 60 private trainers, 2 in each rural school, voluntarily support the education processes in technology classes. These teachers included in the Coding Tomorrow Project's Instructor Training receive training in the titles of "Learning How to Code with Scratch", "3D Worlds with Tinkercad", "Electronic Worlds with Micro: bit", "Digital Pedagogy", and "Production with 3D Printer and 3D Pen". Teachers receive up-to-date information during monthly meetings.

Digitalization training for families

As part of the Rural Schools project, families also benefit from special meetings and training. At these meetings, parents receive training on topics such as "Using Digital Safely", "Electronic Applications such as E-government and E-banking", and "Digital Parenting". Thus, they will learn 21st-century competencies, resources they can leverage in the digital world, and significant issues to consider.

Each 1 TRY invested for the project socially returns as a 7.6 TRY value

In the social impact report prepared specifically for the "Rural Schools" project, students who benefited from the project stated that the two biggest changes in them were about motivation (65.88%) and 21st-century competencies (65.58%). Each investment of 1 TRY for the project yielded a social return of 7.6 TRY .

The project has reached over 280,000 children

Within the "Coding Tomorrow" project, children between 7-14 across Turkey receive theoretical and practical training from volunteer trainers on various subjects, including the introduction to programming, algorithm logic, application development, storytelling, and game development. As part of the "Coding Tomorrow", which has reached over 280,000 children in 81 provinces to date, 14 million TRY of social value was obtained last year, and each investment of 1 TRY for the project yielded a social return of 7,7 TRY. With the goal of providing technology training to 92,000 people, including students, teachers, and families, the project was introduced globally once again by being included in the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development this year, following the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society held last year. You can also access "Coding Tomorrow” training via the online training platform Yarinikodlayanlar.com , free of charge.