That’s what our CEO Jeroen Jansen, together with consultancy services manager Martijn van Doesselaar and senior EIM consultant Firdous Jahangier explained this week to Group 5 & 6 pupils (8-10 year old) during their first ‘Digital Skills’ class. Classes were set up by JINC within the scope of the Digital Skills project. JINC is a non-profit organisation that helps young people on their way to work.
“JINC ensures equal opportunities for young people. To realise this, JINC helps children aged 8 to 16 to get a good start on the employment market. The JINC-programme is a window that introduces them to a variety of professions, lets them find out about what work matches their talents best and teaches them how to apply for a job,” says Hanne van der AA, project supporter at JINC who accompanied us when we took up the project.
Computer language, algorithms and programming
In the scope of our collaboration we introduced primary school pupils of basisschool ‘De Schakel’ in Utrecht to computer languages, algorithms and programming. As all children have their own specific talents, JINC, together with businesses and schools, proposes a society in which background is not a decisive factor in a person’s future. As a partner who is rooted in the business community we are very happy to be able to contribute to improved digital awareness in pupils by introducing and warming them to the IT-sector. “So good to see that children, with all their spontaneity and creative thinking ability, ventured to come up with clever questions. A valuable complement to our daily work,” says Firdous Jahangier.
JINC helps young people on their way to work.
JINC organises its programme together with schools and more than 450 partners rooted in the business community, like Informed Group. Jeroen Jansen: “Our financial support and professional expertise are indispensable. But what’s even better is that we get something valuable in return: an opportunity of making a difference in these children’s lives while at the same time strengthening our bonds with society”. “Working together with this group of very enthusiastic, incredibly driven kids was great fun. We introduced them to the possibilities offered by the digital world. Based on very practical examples we taught them about the way computers and robots think,” says Martijn van Doesselaar.
