Coding scheme run by UNESCO and Chinese firm Codemao has trained over 1,200 Kenyan students, Xinhua reports

Twenty Kenyan schools in Kiambu, Nairobi, Kajiado and Machakos counties have joined the UNESCO–Codemao Youth Coding Initiative since 2025, and more than 1,200 Kenyan students have been trained, Xinhua reported from Nairobi on 4 October 2026.

Codemao is a Chinese coding education platform. UNESCO's project page lists it as the initiative's partner, and UNESCO gives its legal name as Shenzhen Dianmao Technology Co., Ltd.

Mary Nyasimi, a national programme specialist at UNESCO's Regional Office for Eastern Africa, said the programme works on a train-the-trainer model, with newly trained teachers passing coding and digital skills on to their peers and students, Xinhua reported. According to Xinhua, the schools have set up coding clubs so pupils can learn from each other.

UNESCO and Codemao launched the initiative in April 2021. The first phase ran from 2021 to 2024 in four countries: the Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Namibia and Thailand. UNESCO says 200 schoolteachers from the four countries, 45 per cent of them women, completed the initiative's first international coding training in 2021–2022.

Phase 2 runs from 2025 to 2030, with Kenya again a beneficiary country. UNESCO's project page lists US$2 million in funding from Codemao, and 1,000 tablets supplied by OPPO in 2025 with Codemao's coding software installed. China Daily reported on 4 July 2025 that Kenya was launching the second phase, with more schools to join, particularly in underserved areas.

The Kenya National Commission for UNESCO (KNATCOM) announced that Kenyan students and teachers had been selected for the 2026 UNESCO–Codemao Youth Coding Exchange Programme in Shenzhen, held from 19 to 26 July 2026. KNATCOM said four students and two teachers would take part. UNESCO, in an article published on 31 August 2026, said the Kenyan delegation also included one KNATCOM officer.

According to UNESCO, the programme opened with the Africa–Asia Youth Forum on AI Education and Innovation Ecosystems. Delegates visited Codemao's headquarters and the technology companies Creality and D-Robotics, and student delegates took part in an AI camp on 23 and 24 July.

In an address read on his behalf, KNATCOM's Acting Secretary General and CEO, Dr James Njogu, said participants were expected to "return as champions of digital learning". KNATCOM thanked the Ministry of Education, the Teachers Service Commission, UNESCO and Codemao.

Augustine Nzuki, a teacher at Tala Township Primary School in Machakos County who made the trip, was quoted by Xinhua as saying: "I saw practically what robots and drones are, gaining hands-on knowledge of AI and coding." Xinhua said he plans to visit 20 neighbouring schools to share what he learned.

Nyasimi also said AI and digital tools are transforming teaching and learning across the continent, Xinhua reported.