VOA常速英语:塞内加尔启动年轻程序员培训计划

Local tech start-ups are tackling day-to-day conveniences in Dakar, Firefly, a digital advertising company,places TV screens in public buses, but has struggled to find qualified web and mobile app developers in Senegal.

They are trained in technologies we do not work with, for example, all engineering schools in Dakar work in Java.We work mostly with PHP and Python, with new front-end technologies like Bootstrap, these are not things they learn in school.”

Until recently, that is.

This is Volkeno, students learn web development, digital marketing or graphic design.At the end of the one-month training program, they will spend two months interning with a local company.

The classes are free, Volkeno is supported by companies like Firefly in exchange for interns.At least 15 of those interns have landed full-time contracts.

CEO Abdoul Khadre Diallo initially set up Volkeno to provide tech services to local entrepreneurs.The training program was launched later when he realized none of his interns were sufficiently qualified.

Here, young people are not encouraged to be interested in these skills, most schools remain too classical.The training is too classical, you see schools where in five years, there is no decent practical training, in my opinion."

There are efforts to change that, at this coding workshop in the northern city of St. Louis,high school students are introduced to coding and web development.

The Next Einstein Forum’s Africa Science Week is held in 13 African countries to promote interest in STEM fields, science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“For me, the problem lies in the content of university courses.Because you can start by teaching HTML, but then you evolve and teach HTML5, for me, we must simply update everything.”

Volkeno has registered over 40 functioning start-ups in Dakar, all of which operate through websites and mobile applications.

“If you are trained in technology, you can find work after you graduate.Because it is very difficult to find internships and everything here, and your relations play a big role.But for example, if you learn programming you can set up your own project, create an application.If you know digital marketing, you can do all the promotion yourself, so it is important to get training.”

The founder of Senegal’s next big start-up may be sitting right here in this room.

Sofia Christensen, for VOA news, Dakar.