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Under Axiom’s Corporate Responsibility Program, Executive Director Victor Efthimiades initiated on January 25 an informal series of lectures on computer programming for elementary school children, titled “Behind the Screens”, at the 3rd Elementary School of Makedonitissa, in Nicosia.

The idea, with main purpose to demystify computers and ignite interest in computer programming, was warmly embraced by the School’s 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Irene Papathanasiou and endorsed by Headmaster Mrs. Nefi Kameri.

The first lecture used an interactive simulation approach, with students taking the roles of “processor” and “memory”, in executing the statements of a simple “program” to carry out basic tasks such as following a path to a destination.

“As professionals in the field of information technology, we feel a deep responsibility to show to our young children the opportunity to become creators, rather than passive consumers of games and other types of entertainment. I believe today’s second biggest achievement is that kids understood that computers depend entirely on us, humans and that we can program them to do really smart things, flawlessly, in an incredible speed. The biggest achievement though was to have half the children of the class actively asking for the follow up lecture. It is remarkable and encouraging!”, was Mr. Efthimiades’ assessment of the event.