MEPI TL Capstone

Project

With the association of

the Lebanese American

University

Code, For

A Better

Future Granting the orphans and poor

children opportunities

through programming.

By Mohamed Atieh

1

Dedication and Acknowledgements

This project is dedicated to all children in Lebanon who are

victims of the war as well as the poor treatment of the

government. Children will hopefully be able to grow with a rich

knowledge of the modern world and how to interact with it.

It is also dedicated to all the nonprofit organizations that are

working on child development in Lebanon and looking out for

their needs.

I would like to acknowledge all the help and support by my

advisor, Dr. Loulwa Kaloyeros, through the process of writing

this paper. Also, my huge appreciation goes to all the MEPI

Tomorrow’s Leaders team and administration for their hard

work and commitment in the past years.

2

Contents

Abstract ................................................................................................................. 3

Introduction ........................................................................................................... 4

Present Situation ................................................................................................... 5

Why Programming? ............................................................................................... 8

What is Computer Programming? ....................................................................... 8

How does Computer Programming aid in the prosperity of the youth? ............ 10

Programming Stereotypes ................................................................................ 11

Is there any NGO around the world, which is working on spreading Computer

Programming around schools? ......................................................................... 12

The Plan ............................................................................................................... 14

Raising Awareness ............................................................................................ 14

Developers Contribution ................................................................................... 16

Donation Plans .................................................................................................. 17

Incorporating with youth-targeted NGO’s ........................................................ 18

Awarding contributors and volunteers ............................................................. 18

Core Curriculum ................................................................................................ 19

Financial Aspect ................................................................................................... 23

Costs ................................................................................................................. 23

Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 26

Bibliography ......................................................................................................... 27

3

Abstract

In the past few years, Lebanon has been experiencing a huge economical

downfall due to destruction and reduction in tourism. More and more families

become homeless and/or jobless, and the numbers keep on increasing every day.

This has left the people of Lebanon in fear and insecurity, and has forced the

families to use their children as a source of income. Some families even

abandoned their own children. Children are taken to the streets to work under

harsh conditions with or without their parents. Some are having a hard time to

attend school or perform well in it. All these factors and more are pre-

determining the lives of those children and are taking away any possibility to draw

a bright future which any child is deserved to have.

Many NGO’s in Lebanon are keeping an eye on the children and are

providing them with the right education which any Lebanese child would want to

have. However, few of the children afforded the costs of a university or did

something they really wanted. This shows that institutions are limited to giving

the basic needs to those kids, and not something that would benefit them in the

long term.

This project sheds light on the importance of programming as a skill to

acquire in an applicable age and developing it through the years to get the best

out of it. This is applied through software developers in a community service

environment who would help those children in their own free time. Studies from

other countries will be used to support the idea behind this initiative and a step-

by-step guide shall show how this could be done in Lebanon.

4

Introduction

Lebanon was under civil war of non-stop violence for 16 years. People in

Lebanon are of many different religions and have their own backgrounds and

mentalities. This war caused the different political sectors to stick to their

principles and to cut off any connection to the other conflicting sectors. Luckily

enough, there is something that is common amongst all of these groups together

despite their opposing views - education. Education remained to be the idea of

success in the eyes of the Lebanese people, or at least the parents. This is why

many Lebanese parents stress on their children not only to complete their

education but to ace it. Consequently, the educational system in Lebanon today is

one of the toughest and most competitive in the region.

The civil war, along with the war against Israel caused severe downfalls, and

since it’s severe, people ran out of jobs and/or had their shelters down. According

to the President of Amel Association, Dr. Kamel Muhanna, the effects of war lead

to internal migration, lower quality of public aid (health, education, etc.),

disabilities and children becoming orphans. This is why children who are victims in

this war are nowadays the first concern in many NGO’s and institutions

throughout the country, giving them another chance in life through education.

However, institutions help in providing the strict public education in

Lebanon, which is the main factor in increased drop-out rates. This is why this

project is proposed; to build a second skill for youngsters with the same

condition(s), by the help of peers from around the country. The skill targeted in

this paper is programming, which is the road to almost everything built and being

used by humans. With this skill in hand, it can be used as a source of income and

to stay up to date with the rest of the world. This project will mainly aim on

describing the current situation of the youth, the importance behind gaining

programming skills and the methods used to achieve this end.

5

Present Situation

Nowadays, many NGO’s around Lebanon take care of war victims; they

provide food, education and in rare cases, shelters. However, the majority of

these NGO’s look after the children of whom their families were affected. This is

because war left children in a state of constant fear, thinking that war is part of

their lives and not just a tragedy that simply passes by (Muhanna, 2008). Hence,

institutions are aware that children have a long road ahead and deserve to have a

second chance.

Statistically, 90.3% of the children had seen bombings, 68% moved out of

their homes, 54.5% became victims of poverty, 50.3% experienced violence and

21.3% live on their own (Muhanna, 2008). With all the help around, there will

always be a challenge to cover all the children in need with the proper education

and to give them their equal or fair treatment. Moreover, studies show that most

of the drop-outs and failures come from children with poor backgrounds who are

unable to compete against normal students (Hamdan, 2012). This is because

normal students live in a better environment and their focus would only be their

education, while children who are orphans or poor are most likely under fear,

insecurity and/or anxiety. These factors have a tremendous effect on the child’s

performance at school and his/her overall wellbeing. Institutional surveys have

shown that poor students are often not productive due to lack of optimism and

confidence. Also, symptoms such like anxiety and depression are usually

associated with students of lower classes than that of middle classes and above.

As a result, few of the lower-status students “survive” the school life and might as

well excel in it (Jensen, 2013). Along with the factors that the statistics mentioned

above, children of Lebanon went through a lot of pain and carelessness as the

situation is persisting till this day.

Non-governmental organizations in Lebanon have turned the table over

poverty, illness and inequality. With hundreds of NGO’s in action, there are many

humanitarian initiatives out there which help reduce problems facing the needy in

Lebanon. As far as education is concerned, the help distributed is remarkable and

6

deserves complete recognition and gratitude. However, the number of children

being left out is greater than that being taken care of, which somewhat gives us,

as a community, a reason to contribute and give even more.

When the problem is shedding light on the youth, races and diversity

should be neglected. It’s true that children, who have disabilities, whether minor

or major, gain the most attention, but they remain nevertheless under the

category of special cases. All children in general, must have their equal shares in

life, it’s their right. It’s their right to live and grow just like all other children. It’s

their right to draw their own dreams, and work hard for them. Poverty and the

absence of parents are not their fault, so why should we act like we are holding

them responsible or leave it for God’s will, without stepping up for them?

NGO’s in Lebanon keep on giving because this is what they believe in. The

initiatives by these organizations united children from different political and

religious groups, and helped develop their leadership and communication skills

along with their education. Moreover, the youth of the rural areas were offered

career guidance due to the lack of jobs and social interactivity in rural areas,

which caused many families to move to the capital city, Beirut (UNDP, 2010). This

can be beneficial in the long run since those initiatives often influence the society

and bring people together for larger causes.

Despite of their open hands, NGO’s are experiencing many limitations when

it comes to providing better education and equal opportunities to children. The

issue here is the children, and since the solution to unemployment must be

targeting adults, the focus should always be education. Team work and

communication are crucial to build an easy going and friendly environment

amongst the different groups in Lebanon, especially if it involves the development

of the youth. But due to the high dropout rate in schools which was discussed

earlier, the children are forced to find a job and help their parents, if they have

any. The important thing to notice here is that the jobs they go for do not aid in

their growth - they are not challenging themselves mentally, hence affecting their

overall advancement. Many of the drop-outs are being employed to wash cars,

7

sell on the streets or to become beggars. After all, they are not holding any

degrees.

Although the Lebanese government is in the process of reducing the drop-

out rates in schools, it turns out to be more difficult than it seems. The

International Committee on the Rights of the Child has shown its care and

attention to the current situation, along with European experts who tried to

compare and apply the ways they deal with education; all to realize that there is

no real solution to this problem. In addition, laws coming up by the government

to standardize education are not being applied effectively and people aren’t

aware of it (Hamdan, 2012) .NGO’s won’t be able to cover the costs of all the

different cases and since it’s not recommended to have a general target, covering

anyone in need and ignoring children who are much more unfortunate isn’t the

wise thing to do.

Example of ongoing NGO’s in Lebanon

8

Why Programming?

Before stressing on why programming skills are essential for the poor

children or orphans and their development, there are few points that should be

clear first:

What is Computer Programming?

Computer programming (often shortened to programming) is a process

that leads from an original formulation of a computing problem to

executable programs.

As a senior student in Computer Science, I would further define Computer

Programming as coming up with an optimized solution to a problem, design

it and finally implementing it. It is getting the computer to do things. The

flexibility offered in programming is what makes it beyond measures.

Implementation involves heavy critical thinking, testing and debugging.

Debugging is best defined as tracing the solution and fixing errors. Solution

is what the programmer comes up with from ideas which are presented in

the form of code.

9

Most people cannot differentiate between the common computer skills

and programming skills, so it is important to point out the difference:

o A computer (Software) skill is the practice of using software such as

Microsoft Office, PowerPoint and Excel. These are available tools for

normal computer users that are easy to use and help complete tasks

such as writing documents and/or presenting simple data.

o A programming skill involves developing a solid understanding of a

specific problem and studying the methods that could be used to

come up with a possible solution. This requires coding, which comes

in different programming languages. However, all languages require

the same logic but they only differ in their syntax.

With the understanding provided above, the project aims at transforming the

youth in need to critical thinkers and helps them gain a valuable skill that could

open the doors for them to a brighter future by giving them a possible alternative.

But the question here is, why this particular skill? Why not any other skills like

hand crafting or sewing? As I was inspired by an article written in 2012 by Steve

Downing, a Palantir Technologies Engineering Team Lead and a writer at Forbes

Online Magazine, he managed to answer a debatable question which is whether

being a programmer is a wise choice or not. As a successful programmer in Silicon

Valley (where all major companies’ headquarters are), Steve made clear that the

working environment is often fun and that companies are running after available

programmers to hire since 2005, and to make your way to the top, all you need is

a laptop and a functional brain (Downing, 2012). This was my main motive in

becoming a programmer, and with time I realized that owning a machine to help

me program will get me nowhere; instead it is all the knowledge and skill I need

to maintain with today’s fast growing technology.

To get more insight about how programming can help children, regardless

of their social or physical status, supporting evidence and studies have to be

considered and used for later reference when implementing the project.

10

How does Computer Programming aid in the prosperity of the youth?

It is really rare to hear about a student who started learning code before

enrolling in college; this is because high school students attend schools that

only prepare them for the final year exams which in turn help determine

their “future.” In other words, both public and private schools in Lebanon

lack facts and have no background in the field of computer science.

As a matter of fact, Computer Science goes under the category of sciences

and can be integrated with any field out there. Many studies were

conducted on Computer Science development and they have all shown

positive failures. In a study by the CSTA Curriculum Improvement Task

Force to improve high school computer science education, 1.5 million

computer science-related jobs were added in 2012 and yet schools have

little recognition and are not producing enough skilled people to fill these

jobs. Therefore, the national’s economic and industrial growth will halt in

the near future if those jobs were left unfilled. Moreover, the study has also

shown that mastering programming requires time and time becomes a

serious issue due to the field’s quick evolution (Stephenson, 2005). In other

words, learners are trying to hit a moving target - they never stop learning

and it is almost impossible to cover all its sub-fields.

However, one should not mix Computer Science with Computer

Programming. In fact, programming is just a tool to help implement

Computer Science theories and algorithms. It is the power of problem

solving. In a book called "Integrating Technology for Meaningful Learning,"

programming was classified as developing higher-order thinking skill, and

it’s broken down into three main parts. First, it allows the user understand

how the computer thinks, and hence be able to elicit and evolve computer

mastery. Second, it is linked to the mind’s cognitive skills and contributes

heavily in problem solving. Third and last, it can help mature personal

disciplines and human’s logic (Grabe, 2000). These three facts are well-

known in the field of Computer Science but are kept hidden from our

society or not taken seriously by the educational institutions in Lebanon.

11

Programming Stereotypes

In Lebanon, the culture teaches the youth that life revolves around the survival

of the fittest. If this is the case, then how would you expect the survival or

continuity of the poor and orphans? Another question you are probably

asking is how isn’t programming discriminating towards female children? That

is, the unavailability of their chances in the world of computing. To assess that,

there are some stereotypes related to programming that should be

highlighted. According to CSTA, Curriculum Improvement Task Force, computer

scientists till this day are uncertain of whether Computer Science is the right

name for the field due to its diversity and continuous growth. Therefore, they

defined who and what they are by addressing the following 5 stereotypes:

1. Computer Science Equals Programming:

Before enrolling into Computer Science, most students imagine their

future in front of the screen, writing code. And this misunderstanding

has shown to have negative effects later in advanced studies.

2. Computer Science Equals Computer Literacy:

The use of computers in schools has caused educators to link the use of

machines to computer science. Instead, a student should be exposed to

the fundamentals of computing and its learning activities.

3. Computer Science is a Tool for Studies in Other Disciplines:

There is evidence that Computer Science should not be taught on its

own as it acts as a tool to solve problems in other domains or disciplines.

Even educational institutions are not putting weight and value on it as a

field while some other countries are stressing on using it in schools in a

proper way to help students choose it as a field.

4. Computer Science is Not a Scientific Discipline:

In high schools, Computer Science holds a lower status than subjects like

biology, physics and chemistry and is not within the science

requirements. Both acknowledgement and high image are not present

which causes its downgrade as a science discipline.

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5. Computer Science is a Male Field:

Educators see that girls who perceive computer science as male

dominant are completely affected by the stereotypes and often use

words “geeky” or “boring” to often describe it. This is another view of

how this field has fallen as a victim in almost all the world’s societies.

Unfortunately, this is the truth, and to have a proposed project like this to

work, something should be done to diminish such stereotypes and make

society in Lebanon accept the science of computing. Surviving will no longer

be a problem due to the doors that programming opens from knowledge

and to opportunities in life.

Is there any NGO around the world, which is working on spreading

Computer Programming around schools?

There are many, but there are two main and huge NGO’s/ associations that

made their way to the top, simply because they believed.

The first is Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and it was founded

in 1947 by Richard Hamming. According to its official website, ACM is a

widely known membership organization that provides intellectual and

professional resources, serving its members as well as professional

development. Its only nonprofit category is Science and Technology

Research Institutes Professional Societies & Association, which is associated

with all their pro-found research that led them to this high level of

professionalism (Hamming, 2014).

The second non-profit organization is called Code.org. Their goal is clear: to

have every student in every school learn how to computer program. They

also agree on having Computer Science as a core requirement in schools

along with other sciences and other disciplines. One of their goals is to

bring woman and different races into the field of Computer Science. They

have received huge donations over the last year from icons like Bill Gates,

Mark Zuckerberg and Ashton Kutcher, as well as companies such as Apple,

Google and Microsoft.

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Knowing why the big heads in the world are supporting a vision like this makes it a

lot easier to convince the society in Lebanon to walk down the same path.

Nevertheless, a plan should be made available for whoever supports this vision

and believe in its success.

In the coming section, few points will be addressed followed by a step by step

implementation guide.

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The Plan

To make the best out of this initiative, there are several steps to follow:

- Bringing awareness to the Lebanese community.

- Targeting and calling out for developers and university students across the

country.

- Drawing a donation plan to find funds for the list of resources needed.

- Incorporating with youth-targeted NGO’s.

- Distributing awards for any kind of compliance.

After explaining the relation between Computer Science and programming, it is

clear that to learn programming, an introduction to the field of computer science

must be included and how it aids in solving complex problems using

programming.

Moreover, inheriting techniques from organizations with the same vision will help

overcome many barriers at the beginning. Also, the use of internet is essential

with all the free tutorials and tools it can provide.

Raising Awareness

The public should be aware of the large number of children in poverty and

orphanages and the shortage of resources to cover all the children in need. Then,

the idea of teaching programming to them should be demonstrated well to suit

the community’s mind.

Code.org has free guides to promote Computer Science anywhere, locally. There

is a quote by Steve Jobs that says:

“Computer science is a liberal art, it’s something that everyone should be exposed

to, and everybody should have mastery of to some extent.”

In this guide, one way is to illustrate that we live in the digital age, and everyone,

regardless of their fields, age or social background are able to learn how to

program. Another way is to portray the economic and industrial situation abroad.

According to Code.org, computer programming jobs are the most growing in the

15

21st century with more than 150,000 jobs opening every year and they are

distributed in sectors like health care, defense and finance (Partovi, 2014).

Viewing the current needs of the first world countries could be a way to convince

the Lebanese community the importance of programming.

One of the most common tools of spreading awareness is Social Media websites

like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. As stated by Ingita Padly and Pradeep

Dweivedi in a journal for International Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences,

social media is an effective tool for awareness and can determine the views and

attitudes on a certain issue. They added that life is in a face of evolution, but one

cannot deny all the social issues from poverty to discrimination, rape and to many

other issues, which is way people nowadays are turning to social media and its

endless and powerful communication links with the rest of the world (Dwivedi,

2013). In Lebanon, NGO’s such as Kunhadi, LFPA and Professional Computer

Association, all have websites and use social media to promote their cause and

reach out for people.

Moreover, there are NGO’s that focus on strengthening other NGO’s by teaching

them how to engage in social networks. One of them is named “E-Mediat” and

their sponsors are MEPI and Microsoft. This hyperlink has its complete agenda

and it covers all forms of networking:

http://www.emediat.org/workshops-activities/workshops/

It could be a good start for contributors with weak strategic plans when it comes

to promoting a fresh idea through social media.

16

Developers Contribution

A crucial factor in starting and maintaining this initiative is the availability of

developers. Developers come in different forms:

- Web Developers

- Java/C++/C# Developers

- Android/iOS/Windows Developers (Mobile Oriented)

Luckily, the number of developers in Lebanon is increasing, and university

students might be willing to help out in similar causes as part of their community

service.

The Lebanese American University, has the strongest Computer Science program

in the country and is the only university in Lebanon that holds the ABET

accreditation, according to their official website. So a good start would be

bringing together students from all universities and help the cause. Another way

is reaching out for developers across the country through social media and asking

for support out of their own free will.

Other forms of contributions are not necessarily linked to programming, it could

be to manage and organize as well as to be socially active. All of these are

welcomed. But the main challenge is to acquire the developers who are willing to

give up their time for the sake of the children and the cause as a whole.

Possible contribution source is www.lebgeeks.com , an online community of

technology “geeks” in Lebanon.

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Donation Plans

One of the problems that this initiative would face is funds. These are funds for

rents, tools and other resources that are needed to remain effective and deliver a

better quality for the children. There are several ways to raise funds, and some of

them are:

- Donation Boxes

- Fundraising events

- Online donations (explained below)

Online donations are being used excessively nowadays; Code.org has received

millions of dollars of donations by advertising their cause of teaching students in

high school how to code, through their website and social media pages. Some

other sources could be:

- www.fundsforngos.com : Started in India by Sameer Zuhad, its motive is

the fact that NGO’s are competing for funds and since the sources are

ambiguous throughout the web, he decided to create this website to

become a mean to access donors, resources and skills across the globe.

- Surprisingly, social media is changing the face of fundraising, according to

an article by Ian Pearman, a Guardian Professional at The Guardian

Magazine. He pointed out that photos and videos are used to express the

problem and hence convince people the purpose of the donation.

Moreover, promoting as an NGO is much cheaper on social networks than

traditional media streams and can be more targeted and more powerful if

the cause is well presented (Pearman, 2014).

It is important to stay active and publish all the work and achievements to the

public to show commitment and effectiveness and hence, receive more

support in taking the NGO more seriously.

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Incorporating with youth-targeted NGO’s

Since teaching programming skill is targeting the youth in poverty and

orphanages, whether attending school or currently a drop-out, contacting NGO’s

under the same category (children) will definitely help as a start-up. According to

“The Irish Association of Non-Governmental Development Organization, “NGO’s

budgets are inadequate in accordance to their objectives, that’s why they

considered uniting different NGO’s to establish unity and diversity as well as to

address poverty on a larger scale and on different levels (ISDO, 2009). This

methodology will provide access to children from different parts in Lebanon and

might add strong relationships between NGO’s

Awarding contributors and volunteers

Having some sort of reward system is recommended since volunteering does not

include any profit and costs time and effort. That’s why a simple recognition letter

along with some souvenirs would give anyone a feeling of appreciation and

completion.

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The educational process should be tackled and made feasible given the resources

made available by following the previous steps. The final part of this paper will

describe the core curriculum and its requirements.

Core Curriculum

First, the children need to grasp a clear representation of Computer Science.

Luckily the major points can be explained in many different ways to different age

groups. The theory surrounding the field of computing was made simple and

illustratable by almost all universities and is also being used by NGO’s like

Code.org to teach participants under all ages. Therefore, it is advisable to source

universities, and collect different explanations for Computer Science.

The Department of Computer Science in Boston University defined success in

computing as a gifted ability to address and solve problems. For that, they

recommend it to people who are into puzzles (Boston University, 2014).

Accordingly, writing a piece of code for a sub-program or a whole program

involves the same steps to problem solving. All universities agree on the following

steps and their definitions:

1. Defining the Problem:

A problem is usually what is currently known, what is that you need to

obtain and what input is needed to reach an optimal solution. This step is

done in our everyday life and usually takes time depending on the size of

the problem.

2. Planning the Solution:

This step is mainly drawing or writing steps on a piece of paper or software

in order to have a vision of how the program shall act towards specific

inputs and the ways it can reach a reliably a solution.

3. Coding the Program:

Here, the programmer applies step 1 and 2 in terms of code. Code comes in

several languages and the choice remains a task-specific or preference.

Some languages affect performance and some others are incapable of

performing heavy operations or be maintainable for the long-run.

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4. Testing the Program:

It is important to pre-determine that might occur before running the

program for the first time. Most programmers double check their code

before their first test in order to save them more time. A good thing in

modern programming is syntax error detecting in the programming tools.

All what remains is testing the code and determining the location of the

error and fixing it.

5. Documenting the Code:

Initially, most programmers write code that is messy and which they only

understand. This turned out to be a hard to maintain code and if persists,

might develop into a bad habit. Therefore, it is recommended to write

“clean” code that is understandable to any one reading the code. Also,

there are many tools that are made for documentation purposes and the

most common is ‘comments’ which is commenting on each line of code to

explain what it does.

Requirements:

In order to come up with the best quality to those children, there are few things

that need to be covered by the tutors:

- The tutor/participant should have clear understanding of the previous

points.

- The tutor should be able to explain it to different groups of children in an

interesting way to grab their attention.

- The children should learn how to love learning. Programming involves a lot

of self-learning; therefore it is crucial for the child to love what he/she is

doing to be able to assess himself/herself in the future.

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Second, introduce children to the idea of Open Source. Anything under the

category of open source means that is free to use and modify by the public. It is

the complete opposite of copyright. The least that the programmer can do is to

mention the source of the code for the community to know. The idea of open

source can introduce the children to team work and expressing their thoughts to

achieve a strong and united community.

There are many open source communities on the internet and there are special

ones like CodeCombat that has received praises by many developers on GitHub.

GitHub is an open source community where programmers share their codes for

others to benefit from or seek help as the public has direct access to the code

(www.github.com ). CodeCombat is an open source game that grants the children

the chance to modify its content and learn to code.

The previously mentioned Code.org organization also supports open source and

offers The Hour of Code to all schools or institutions who want to introduce

programming to children. This initiative has gathered 1 Billion lines of code

written by children from almost all US states in just 24 hours, which was a real

breakthrough last year. (Link: www.csedweek.org )

Requirements:

- Internet Access.

- A tutor that is knowledgeable and a member of the open source

community.

- To use means that can relate this online community to real life activities,

since they both act with the same manner but using different tools.

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Third and last, is the choice of language. Most universities start off by either a

programming language called C/C++ or Java. These two languages are

considered the most common and universal since most applications are being

run by those languages. Another important factor in those languages is that

they provide the logic that any programmer needs at the beginning. Although

the existence of new and modern languages likes Pascal and others, Java and C

still dominate programming universally. Another important set of language is

HTML (Hypertext markup language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) and

JavaScript. This set is the basic for building and designing modern web pages

and application targeting internet users (which is the real source of income to

all programmers nowadays).

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Financial Aspect

Everything comes with a cost, and to start up a nonprofit organization, it is better

to view it first on a small scale in terms of content, availability and interactivity

which eventually determines its size.

First, a clear list of needed resources should be made:

- Laptops (1 to 4 years old)

- High Internet Connection

- Apartment

- Electricity

- Tables and Chairs

- Transportation means

- Learning Material

- IDE’s (Integrated Development Environment)

Costs

For laptops, there are many e-shops that advertise used laptops where

they can be in either good or bad condition. There is no need for brand new

equipment since the overall cost of used laptops (even after some fixing)

could be much cheaper. The performance doesn’t differ as there isn’t heavy

usage at a learning level. If a set of 10 laptops is needed, they would

estimate around $3000-$5000 (if each is in the range of $300-$500).

For a good internet connection, a contact should be made with an internet

service provider. OGERO for example, lowers the cost of internet access per

hour as the subscriber increases usage. The pricing for a DSL is as follows:

24

Service DSL

Over Regular Line

Fee Description Amount with Regular Modem Amount with ADSL wireless Modem

Setup fee 55,000 L.L 55,000 L.L

Regular Modem 58,000 L.L ----------

ADSL wireless Modem ---------- 86,000 L.L

VAT 12,000 L.L 15,000 L.L

Stamp 2,000 L.L 2,000 L.L

Total 127,000 L.L 158,000 L.L

OverInternet Line

Connection fee 45,000 L.L 45,000 L.L

Regular Modem 58,000 L.L ----------

OR ADSL wireless Modem ---------- 86,000 L.L

VAT 11,000 L.L 14,000 L.L

Stamp 2,000 L.L 2,000 L.L

Total 116,000 L.L 147,000 L.L

To get an apartment in Lebanon that can accommodate 15 people, a

monthly cost that ranges from $500-$1000 would be charged. Moreover,

electricity and some furniture are to make the experience as worthy as

expected from a small organization. The cost of electricity is calculated

based on KWh (Kilo Watt per hour) and the price to operate 10 to 15

laptops at a time would range from 120,000 L.L to 200,000 L.L a month. For

tables and chairs, a cost of around 100,000 L.L should be enough.

25

Transportation means shall be available in accordance with classes or

sessions. A small shuttle could carry around 15 children. And the price to

pick them up from a place and take them back, for three days a week would

be 80,000 L.L. The cost increases as more sessions are held.

For the learning material and the IDE’s, the best resort is to turn to open

source material. There are many open source communities and

organizations that offer unlimited learning material and projects that

contribute to child development in terms of coding and the logic behind it.

Since this part of the financial plan is cost free, a couple of credible

websites is listed below:

There is an article by Edutopia.org that shows more than 15 ways to teach

code to children, even without computers. Link:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/15-ways-teaching-students-coding-vicki-

davis

Another great source is Code.org that offers a list of resources for educators

along with other tips. Link: http://code.org/educate

To sum up all costs, for a period of 3 to 5 months, it would lead to a max of

$3,834-$6,390 ($8,834 – 11,390 for the first month due to the laptops’

onetime payments).

26

Conclusion

Computer science is one of the fields that require active learning and heavy

time consumption. The beauty in it is that time is never a measure for the

skill you obtain, but it is the hands-on experience that is gained by

continuous practice. Children who have poor backgrounds or are orphans

will have a second chance in shaping their future. The persistence of NGO’s

targeting education and shelter for those children contributes greatly in this

project as they will remove issues concerning basic education, food and

shelter. The focus on programming is in agreement with the modern

technological needs of the public and is the best alternative to the extreme

of working on the streets. Moreover, following the plan accordingly and

uniting with other NGO’s will enhance the overall experience that the

institution and children can acquire, leading to positive results on the long

run.

Note:

In this project, it is assumed that children are receiving or have received the

education they need that makes them capable to learn how to use a computer

and code.

This project will require a heavy breakthrough in how the community in

Lebanon thinks and acts when encountered with such new initiatives that is not

yet implemented in the Middle East.

It is estimated but not guaranteed to help out the children in their future career

life. However, it certainly remains the best as a learning domain and the best

alternative to their possible harsh working conditions.

27

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