DTEC and iCodejr to host inter-school coding competition in Dubai

Part of the month-long UAE Innovates 2022, the competition is meant to promote coding literacy amongst the next generation of tech innovators in schools in Dubai

iCodejr, the licensed online coding academy for school children, today announced hosting the first inter-school coding competition for schools in Dubai in collaboration with Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus (Dtec), Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO)’s wholly owned tech hub and coworking space, and the largest of its kind in the MENA region.

Scheduled to take place on February 26, 2022, as part of one of the largest innovation festivals in the world, the month-long UAE Innovates 2022, the competition will be held in Dtec campus at Dubai Silicon Oasis.

Hans Christensen, Senior Director, Technology & Entrepreneurship at Dtec, said: “Coding is at the core of technology innovation and advancement. It is the language in which humans communicate with computers, and program them to carry out tasks. As the largest tech incubator in the Middle East, Dtec is proud to host this competition and advocate for teaching children coding. We hope to utilize our strategic location in Dubai Silicon Oasis, the integrated technology park with participating schools, to promote the competition and encourage more youngsters to take on coding.”

The competition will be open to children to participate as individuals or in teams, in any of the three groups depending on their capabilities – Cadet Group for Grades 1-4, Captain Group for Grades 5-8, and Colonel Group for Grade 9-12. Competitors may opt to use any text/block-based platform, such as Scratch, or programming language of their choice, to build a project. The projects will be assessed by an expert judging panel based on five criteria – code, creativity, user interface, originality, and presentation.

Hannan Moti, co-founder at iCodejr, said, “Coding is increasingly becoming an essential tool for all school-going students in this digital age. It equips them for whatever the future holds and with the growing importance of Web3 and the Metaverse, we think it’s important that these children learn these skills as they grow. We are very pleased to join hands with Dtec to make this event a reality and hope to expand this to other Emirates and around the GCC.”

For details on the competition, interested students may visit the website at www.icodejr.com, call +971 50 MY ICODE (69 42633), or drop the team an email on battle@icodejr.com.

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