Twenty-one female students of Tare Pet Montessori Group of Schools, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, have graduated from the Sporting Coders pilot programme, organised by Community Sports and Educational Development (CSED) Initiative and the management of the school.
This first-of-its-kind training programme in Nigeria, which combines training in netball and coding, is aimed at introducing the participants to the basics of coding, as well as laying the foundation for them to consider future careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), an area where women are currently underrepresented.
The 12-week training programme, which started in the first week of January 2024, saw the participants doing their coding training every Saturday morning for a period of two hours, which was then followed by two hours of netball training.
Free lunch was provided to the netballers by the school cooks. To sustain the interest of the students from the rigorous training by the netball coaches, led by Funso Ekundayo, the students were provided with two educational vouchers worth N10,000 on each occasion.
Also, three of their ex-netball colleagues, who are now in universities, were provided with educational vouchers worth N50,000 by the organisers, who have Lord’s Taverners (UK based charity) as their kits supplier.
The students also got 12 netball training/match balls and two separate sets of sports jerseys and training bibs.
During the period of the training, CSED Initiative donated 110 general interest books to the school’s library, as well as a new laptop to the management of the school, who ensured the success of the programme.
The 21 students’ parentsattended the school’s recently held inter-house sports competition and on the graduation day of the Sporting Coders programme to support their daughters.
Speaking at the event, the school’s proprietress, Mrs. Victoria Mologe, advised the students to work hard and consider developing their sporting talent, while still pursuing their academic or professional careers.
Captain of Tare Pet School, who are currently Bayelsa State’s netball champions, Alaere Wisdom, lauded the coaches, parents, teachers and sponsors for providing them with the opportunity to access this free girl/child-friendly training programme.
Also speaking on the programme, the Director, Technical, Bayelsa State Sports Council, Mrs Catherine Sasoude, stated that while growing up in the 80s, her parents discouraged her from participating in sports, adding that she was still able to combine sport and education.
Also speaking on the project, Bayelsa State’s Head of School Sports, Godwin Adagbo, disclosed that the CSED Initiative’s training of games masters/mistresses under the ‘Project 2027’ programme is currently yielding positive results.
