8th Edition of Global IT Challenge focused on strengthening IT skills of youth with disabilities. It was co-hosted by Indian Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
LG Electronics, a consumer durable major in India organised the 8th edition of global IT challenge for youth with disabilities (GITC) in the country. The challenge that took place at the The Ashok Hotel in New Delhi, India, was co-hosted by Ministry of Health and Welfare (Korea), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (Govt of India) and Rehabilitation International Korea (RI Korea).
This edition of the global IT challenge, for the first time, saw participants from United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and Krgyzstan.
Focus on strengthening IT skills of youth with disabilities
The GITC challenge this year focused on strategies for strengthening IT skills of youth with disabilities. The aim was to enhance their access to information and communication services on an equal basis with others.
A total of four events were scheduled during the global IT challenge. These included ‘e-Tool Challenge’ to evaluate the skills using MS Office program and ‘e-LifeMap Challenge’ to evaluate their online information search ability in specific situations.
LG Electronics set up an all new ‘e-Contents Challenge’, which was aimed to evaluate video shooting and editing capabilities of youth with disabilities. ‘E-creative challenge’ to direct stories using scratch programs and creating games was also scheduled this year.
Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Kim Ki Wan, Managing Director, LG Electronics India said, “We are elated to host GITC( Global IT challenge) for youth with disabilities in India this year. Every year we have seen an encouraging participation from young students and we are positive that this year too it will bring immense value to their lives and help them emerge as future leaders. At LG we always strive to encourage and influence the society at large to bring a difference and this is an initiative by us, for all the bright young people who are working extremely hard to fulfill their dreams.”
LG Electronics also distributed teaching material co-produced by Seoul National University’s MMLAB (Internet Convergence and Security Research Laboratory) and Inha University’s Technology Talent Center to participants in order to address the information gap in the youth with disabilities. The study materials were distributed expecting that the participants will learn technology and utilise them in real life through informative education using textbooks.
LG Electronics has been organizing the Global IT Challenges for youth with disabilities since 2011 in association with RI Korea to help eradicate the digital divide among young people with special needs in order to help establish a foundation for social advancement for them.
