CIO-Asia - Microsoft Malaysia's WeSpeakCode even more ‘inclusive’ this year
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Microsoft Malaysia's WeSpeakCode even more ‘inclusive’ this year
AvantiKumar | April 8, 2015
To reach their full potential, young people need to have an understanding of how technology works, and how to make it
work for them, says Microsoft Malaysia’s Dinesh Nair.
Photo Secondary school students Code for Malaysia
Microsoft's Malaysian leg of this year's global WeSpeakCode campaign focuses on inclusiveness and reaches out to
different groups to encourage uptake of 21st century skills, said the platform and productivity company.
More than 2,000 youths from all walks of life ranging from underprivileged and disabled communities to those from
educational institutions such as schools and universities took part in Microsoft's YouthSpark #WeSpeakCode campaign,
which was held for the second year running in Malaysia.
Microsoft tagged the local programme "Code for Malaysia," and organised a weeklong campaign (25 March to 2 April),
which included activities and events in collaboration with local schools, universities, government and nongovernmental
institutions such as Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),
Taylor's University, MySkills Foundation, and YWCA Kuala Lumpur to celebrate Code for Malaysia.
Microsoft Malaysia director of legal and corporate affairs, Jasmine Begum, said, "Code for Malaysia kicked off last year in
Malaysia to resounding success, and we are delighted to continue our efforts to offer resources, education and skills
training in coding to more Malaysians."
This year's theme on inclusiveness included partnering with YWCA Kuala Lumpur and United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF) to extend Code for Malaysia to women and girls, and youths from the underprivileged and disabled
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communities.
"It is important that our young people understand computer science and basic programming are skills that will form the
foundation for many jobs in the future. With Code for Malaysia, we are creating real impact in Malaysia, equipping the
younger generation with 21st century skills that will propel the country towards our vision of a developed nation by 2020,"
said Begum.
Photo (From left) Dinesh Nair, Director of Developer Experience and Evangelism, Microsoft Malaysia; Phenny Kakama,
Senior Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF; Iriani Zulkifli, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Officer, UNICEF; Nicolas
Pron, Director, Secretary of the Executive Board, UNICEF; H.E. Ms. Laura Elena Flores Herrera, Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Panama to the United Nations; Kristel Louk, First
Secretary, Permanent Mission of Estonia to the United Nations; Wivina Belmonte, UNICEF Representative, Malaysia;
Silvester Mwanza, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Zambia to the United Nations; H.E. Sahebzada Ahmed Khan,
Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan; Jasmine Begum, Legal and Corporate Affairs Director,
Microsoft Malaysia; and Mandeep Kaur, Community Affairs Manager, Microsoft Malaysia.
Wivina Belmonte, UNICEF representative, Malaysia, said, "In line with UNICEF's #disable2enable campaign, we are
thrilled to be working with Microsoft for Code for Malaysia extending work they've done with children elsewhere to include
children with disabilities. In doing so, it helps us promote the idea that we need to see the child before the disability and
create opportunities for children of all abilities to grow, learn and contribute. We hope to multiply this effort in Malaysia and
export the idea to other countries in ASEAN and around the world."
Coding support
Microsoft also released results from a new Asia Pacific survey, which noted that the majority of students in
Malaysia saw the value of coding in their education and future careers. (/resource/applications/codingwantedasa
coresubjectinschoolsinasiapacificmicrosoft/) However, the study also found that students feel relatively unsupported in
their interest for coding, signalling an urgent need for educators to look deeper at integrating it as a core subject in the
school curriculum.
The survey conducted in February 2015 polled 1,850 students under 24 years old from across eight countries in Asia
Pacific, including Malaysia, on their attitudes towards coding or software programming.
According to the survey, 88 percent of students in Malaysia want to know more about coding, and 68 percent wish that
coding could be offered as a core subject in their schools.
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Dinesh Nair, Microsoft Malaysia's director of developer experience and evangelism, said
(http://computerworld.com.my/tech/applications/microsoftmalaysiaappointsdeveloperandplatformevangelist/) the study
showed students in Malaysia were aware of the impact of technology on businesses and society '74 percent of students
said that coding was important to their future careers, and 72 percent agreed that coding will be relevant to all careers in
the future, regardless of areas of specialisation. '
"The world is increasingly dependent on technology," said Nair. "In order to reach their full potential, young people need to
have an understanding of how technology works, and how to make it work for them. It's no different in Malaysia our youth
fully recognise the importance of coding as a fundamental 21st century skill and how it would prepare them for success in
the future."
"As our world continues its evolution into one that is mobilefirst and cloudfirst, it is important for educators in the region to
seriously consider offering coding as a subject and how it can be integrated into the curriculum as soon as possible," he
said. "Youth with 21st century skills such as coding will find themselves better qualified for new employment in all areas,
not just technology. Remember, it's in the playing that the learning comes for free."
Microsoft's Begum added: "At Microsoft, we believe that code is a language that anyone can learn and computational
thinking is an essential foundational skill that should be taught in all schools regardless of age, gender, or your current
field of study. Writing code and creating a program of your own is not complicated or difficult, and more importantly, it's fun!
More than 82 million people of all ages around the world already tried coding last year through the global "Hour of
Code (/resource/applications/gotanhourlearntocode/)" event."
