MORE than 100 children of Accenture employees took part in the Malaysian office’s Bring Your Kid To Code Day.
The initiative is part of the company’s commitment to help children build science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and computer skills.
A coding tutorial was conducted for both children and adults with a special focus on artificial intelligence (AI).
“It may seem premature to encourage coding in children below 10 years but we have seen how their agile minds grasp coding concepts, sometimes faster than their parents,” said Accenture Malaysia technology lead Janet Yap.
The activity was part of Accenture’s global Hour of Code initiative in conjunction with Computer Science Education Week.
This follows Accenture’s pledge of US$10mil (RM41mil) to support initiatives to expand STEM and computer science education through Internet Association, a group that represents global Internet companies on matters of public policy.
“Technology is creating jobs that didn’t exist five years ago and learning to code can transform the trajectory of a student’s life and career,” said Accenture chief technology and innovation officer and chief coder Paul Daugherty.
“We’ve seen the impact that Code.org is having on students and this year we’re doing more to support that.”
For the third straight year, Accenture is teaming with Code.org, that launched Hour of Code in 2013 and other STEM-related educational initiatives.
This year, Accenture Technology harnessed its internal expertise to create a coding tutorial that gives students a better understanding of AI.
Students discover how various AI techniques can teach a robot to explore a new planet — including recognising animals and plants, understanding a new language, and conversing with inhabitants.
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