Kuwait City, Mar 20: Zain announced the continuation of its strategic partnership with the community’s top coding program, Kuwait Codes, in its fourth season in collaboration with CODED Academy. The initiative, supported by Zain for the third year running, continues its mission to empower the next generation of aspiring, young Kuwaiti programmers.

The announcement was made during the press conference held at Kuwait University’s Cultural Center in Shadadiya, joined by Zain Kuwait Chief Corporate Affairs and Relations Officer Waleed Al Khashti, CODED Academy CEO Ahmad Marafi, Zain and CODED officials, and representatives from the program’s sponsors and supporters.

Waleed Al Khashti said: “Delighted today to renew our support to the community’s top programming initiative – Kuwait Codes, which comes this year in its fourth season. We’re proud to have supported the past two seasons of the program, which has achieved so many successes since its inception by upskilling over 2500 aspiring young, Kuwaiti programmers, whom we look to as the leaders of our nation’s digital future.”

He added: “Many of our corporate sustainability initiatives center around youth and education development, and as digital skills are gaining accelerating importance in the future of education and the economy, we have put the development of programming and other digital competencies at the forefront of our priorities. Zain will always be keen to contribute to upskilling the next generation of local talents with the skills required by today’s markets, like cybersecurity and AI, both of which are being introduced in the fourth season of Kuwait Codes.”

Al Khashti added: “At Zain, we’re proud to be a part of CODED Academy’s success story by supporting many of their best programs, including last year’s Kuwait Hackathon, the nation’s biggest cybersecurity competition. CODED launched this competition in response to a parliamentary initiative proposed by several members of the National Assembly, which was adopted by the Minister of Interior back then. It aimed at increasing awareness of cybersecurity and the protection of data, test the efficiency of sensitive government systems, and upskill national talents in cybersecurity.”

He concluded by saying: “We look forward to a new season filled with success and achievement, and we can’t wait to see even more aspiring young programmers join the program to bolster their skills. We wish our colleagues at CODED all the best in their ongoing journey to empower digital innovation and creativity, not only in our own community, but across the region as well.”

Ahmad Marafi said: “We take pride at CODED Academy in announcing our strategic partnership with Zain in the 'Kuwait Codes' initiative for the fourth year, following the remarkable success achieved in the previous year. Zain is undoubtedly one of the leading and advanced companies in the world of technology and telecommunications, and its partnership in the 'Kuwait Codes' initiative has a significant impact on our students interested in the field of technology.”

Marafi continued: “Today, we are offering a free educational initiative to high school students and ninth graders with the aim of teaching them the fundamentals of programming in various fields. Our goal is to develop their critical and creative thinking in diverse areas. This year, we aspire to educate 1000 male and female students through a specialized educational curriculum provided by the best teachers in the field. Additionally, we provide training opportunities for students to share and apply their skills.”

“Our partnership with Zain reflects our joint commitment to providing exceptional educational opportunities and fostering innovation and creative thinking in the field of technology. We thank Zain for their trust in CODED." He concluded.

Kuwait Codes is the top initiative of its kind in Kuwait, and it continues its mission to create a technically advanced generation by offering the opportunity for high school students from private and public schools to learn and develop programming skills in several main streams like website design, Python programming, video game development, and smartphone app development using Flutter. This year, AI and cybersecurity are also added as main streams.