"Bridging the Information Gap for Disabled Youth" SK Telecom Hosts Happy Coding Challenge

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] SK Telecom announced on the 26th that it will jointly host the coding competition "Happy Coding Challenge" with the Korea Federation of Organizations of the Disabled to bridge the ICT information gap among disabled youth nationwide.

The "Happy Coding Challenge," held simultaneously at five venues across the country at 2 p.m. that day, is a competition where 80 disabled youth aged 14 to 24 enrolled in special schools (classes) nationwide and 20 teachers solve given coding tasks and quizzes. The program is designed so that middle and high school students with physical and developmental disabilities can enjoyably experience the principles of coding and engage in friendly competition.

Students, organized in teams of two, perform tasks by sequentially inputting command cards into the coding robot "Albert" to move recyclables on a globe-shaped playing field to their respective collection points. The team that achieves the goal the fastest wins.

Youth with hearing and physical disabilities can participate in a competition where teams of two create artificial intelligence models that recognize various types of waste using laptops and cameras, and the creativity and code completeness of the program are evaluated.

There is also a dedicated contest for students with developmental disabilities. Participants' body movement data is collected using a camera that recognizes motions to create an AI model, which is then applied to a game where a character searches for eco-friendly energy sources controlled by body movements, and the functionality is evaluated.

Participating students will also compete in an individual environmental quiz contest to test their knowledge related to the environment and energy. Winning teams in each category will receive various awards, including the Minister of Education Award, the Minister of Science and ICT Award, and the Minister of Health and Welfare Award.

The event will be live-streamed on YouTube by connecting the five venues in Seoul, Suwon, Daejeon, Chungnam, and Daegu via video, and the event's progress and results can also be seen on the KBS program "Family of Love," which will air on the 30th.

Woonghwan Yoo, Head of SK Telecom's ESG Innovation Group, said, "Since 2019, SK Telecom has been operating the Happy Coding School, a coding education program for disabled youth," adding, "As understanding and utilization of coding become increasingly important, we plan to continuously develop ICT experience programs for disabled youth."