du in partnership with Cartoon Network Arabic offers opportunity for young children and teens to code online

Dubai, UAE, 12th March 2017

In line with its efforts to continuously develop the UAE knowledge economy, du has joined hands with Cartoon Network Arabic to launch the Channel’s Young Programmers campaign. This online platform is designed specifically to provide a chance for young children and early teens to code online.

“Contributing to educational programs is a big part of du’s initiative to help the youth realize their greatest potential. We are pleased to have recently launched a platform with Cartoon Network Arabic, to offer our youth an interactive and fun online tool to learn coding through the Young Programmers campaign. We hope that this can be the start for many of the youth to learn coding and gain an interest to study it more on a professional level,” said Samer Geissah, Vice President Innovation, du.

Tarek Mounir, Vice President and General Manager of Turner for Turkey, Middle East, North Africa, ‘Greece & Cyprus comments: “More and more, coding is becoming the ‘new universal language’ and playing a major role in shaping today’s kids. In the UAE, the discussion to introduce coding as an additional subject for primary school students has been gaining traction as the country’s vision to build a knowledge-based economy and drive innovation sits high on its agenda. The introduction of coding at an early age not only helps to encourage innovation in the advancement of technology but also creates a new generation of highly-skilled progressive thinkers.”

du’s latest sponsorship and support of the Young Programmers initiative is a bilingual online platform for the youth of all ages. Offering a fun way to learn coding in the form of a game through different Cartoon Network characters such as the Powerpuff Girls and stories, with a number of requests and boxes to implement coding practices.

Last year, the initiative saw 464,898 children participate. For more information visit: http://www.cartoonnetworkarabic.com/promo/youngprogrammers 

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About du
du is a vibrant and multiple award-winning telecommunications service provider serving over 8 million individual customers with its mobile, fixedline, broadband internet, and Home services over its 4G LTE network. du also caters to over 80,000 UAE businesses with its vast range of ICT and managed services. Since its launch in 2007, du has many UAE firsts to its credit, including introduction of Pay by the Second® billing system, IPTV and self-service portal.

du is ideally placed to support the realisation of UAE Vision 2021 and transformation of Dubai into a Smart City. du is also the official strategic partner of the Smart Dubai Office and the platform provider for Smart Dubai. Following the successful testing of the Middle East’s first Internet of Things (IoT) network, du is on course to complete deployment of its IoT network in 2016.

Brand Finance ranked du as the 12th most valuable brand in the Middle East in 2016. du previously won the coveted Brand of the year title by Superbrands Middle East in 2013. The company has been recognised with several other awards such as ISO 27001 certification of Managed Security Services and having the distinction of opening UAE’s first LEED Platinum Certified Green Shop. du also has the unique distinction of the first telecom in the world to release Sustainability Report based  on GRI-G4 guidelines in 2014. du is also credited with du’s world-class teleport is the largest of its kind in the Middle East and ranked among the top teleports in the world by World teleport Association.

As an Emirati business, du is vested in supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in the UAE. The company has, on average, had an Emiratisation rate of 34% since 2013 across its entire business. Human capital is a key focus area for the company, and the company employs nearly 2000 people from over 60 nationalities. du has won Gallup Great Workplace Award for two consecutive years.

du is 39.5 percent owned by Emirates Investment Authority, 19.75 percent by Mubadala Development Company PJSC, 19.5 percent by Emirates Communications and Technology LLC and the remaining by public shareholders. Listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), the company trades under the name ‘du’.

For more information visit www.du.ae  

Maryam Al Balooshi
PR Lead (Corporate) Commercial
du
Mobile: +971559530523
Email: Maryam.AlBalooshi@du.ae

Layal Dalal
Communications Manager
MSLGROUP
Email: layal.dalal@mslgroup.com  

© Press Release 2017