BACKGROUND Over the past years, Rwanda has made enormous progress towards instilling computer science knowledge in children. To begin with, Rwanda made headlines when it initiated the One Laptop per Child initiative, from which millions of children across the country have undoubtedly benefited from. At the beginning of secondary level, Students are introduced to basic computer skills that are applicable to their schoolwork and beyond. In addition, students who have a passion for computer science can choose to focus on it at their Advanced level of studies by either going in a technical school for computer science or picking it as one of their three preliminary subjects.

While these strides are remarkable, there is still much that can be done to encourage and motivate children from their young age to discover their passion for Computer science outside the classroom. Regrettably, students are not exposed to the crucial practical skills that are needed in computer science; more specifically, while children get computer basic skills they don’t get introduced to software development till they have chosen computer science at advanced level.

As an innovation hub for tech entrepreneurs, kLab wants to participate in the exciting journey to help children find passion in programming and empower them to develop their skills to transform lives of Rwandans. kLab is interested in doing so by hosting a two day intensive coding bootcamp for 30 students of 12-­15 to give them practical insight of what today’s programmer should know, and open their minds to the endless possibilities that are in the tech world. This bootcamp is the first of its kind and we hope it sets the stage for future bootcamps.

OVERVIEW OF THE BOOTCAMP The camp is scheduled to take place from August 28th to 29th 2015 at the kLab space in Kigali. During the first day, the two groups separately will be introduced to and taught how to use different programming web and app tools including Alice and Mozilla toolkits.

On the last day, students will work in groups to create their own applications using the tools they will have learnt. At the end an award ceremony will be hosted where children with the best projects will be given prizes. www.klab.rw Objectives of NextGen Boot camp • To introduce children to programming and coding in addition to their IT basic skills • Introduce children to the technologies of Mozilla’s Appmaker/webmaker, as well as Oracle’s Alice. • Teach children basic programming skills and challenge them to invent their own projects using simple tools. • To motivate and encourage children to be passionate about software development and inspire them to pursue a career in Information Technology. • To secure the future of tech innovation by involving the younger generations.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES At the end of the camp, we hope that the participants; • Will get an overview of what programming is about. • Will be able to invent simple mobile and web applications using the available coding tools. • Will get inspired to love programming and choose computer science related careers. • Will use the acquired knowledge as a stepping-­‐stone towards advancing their skills.

PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR MOZILLA kLab is the Mozilla place for Kigali. All Mozilla activities are held in kLab and tenants are part of its team. This is an opportunity for Mozilla to influence the future use of their platforms through availing trainers, devices, meals, drinks, t-­shirts and small prizes for Day 1 dedicated to 30 students. Mozilla is allowed to brand the space as this will be the “Mozilla day.”