Codetrain students develop Software App to solve social challenges

Codetrain Ghana, an App development company, is equipping its students with technology skills to develop software applications to address social challenges and as an educational tool.

With about three years of operation, the school has a work placement rate of 81 per cent and has a student population of 290 in both Accra and Kumasi.

Mr Richard Brandt, Chief Executive, and Found Codetrain speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Monday said the school had the focus of offering young people the opportunity to attain the right skills and be relevant in the world of work.

“There are prospects in the Information Technology field, the youth are showing interest and we want to support young people to build a career and make ends meet by equipping them with the skills to be creative and solve problems,” he said.

He said one of the past students who set up a company called the Kumba Media had developed an app that was helping to mobilise money for musicians and actors through the download of their work.

Some of the products of the school had secured jobs in multinational companies as web, mobile operating system and full stack developers, Come Friday, April 26, he announced that the school would hold a demonstration day to display software applications developed by students to stakeholders.

He hinted that two of the most exciting apps that would be showcased were the apps called Report a Bad Road Now, that seeks to support reducing road crashes and Think Outside the Box, an app that is aimed at educating children on good sanitation practices.

Master Gerard Nweje, a student who had to develop an app on sanitation said the filthy nature of Accra especially the route from Dansoman to Kwame Nkrumah Circle motivated him to design the app.

Describing the app and how it works, he said it was a picture quiz, which displayed a filthy environment and asks the effect of such a picture.

“For instance, the app will show you a chocked gutter with filth and a woman selling beside it. Then a question like what will happen to a child who buys food sold closed a gutter which is cold,” he explained.

To generate the needed impact and spread it to schools, he said they were planning to visit the stakeholders especially Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to present it to solicit for collaboration.