[CJ OliveNetworks = January 19, 2021 (Tue)] On January 19, CJ OliveNetworks (CEO Cha In-Hyeok) announced that its major social contribution program “CJ SW Creativity Camp” has received a Minister of Education Award at the 9th Korea Education Donation Awards held by the Ministry of Education (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hae) and hosted by the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity (President Cho Yul-Rae).

The Korea Education Donation Awards and the Minister of Education Commendation recognize excellent organizations and individuals who contributed to educational donations and the promotion of the culture of donation in the new education system since 2012.

CJ OliveNetworks received a Minister of Education Commendation as well as its certification as an Excellent Education Donation Institute, which allows it to promote values and use the certification mark for its corporate and brand activities for the next three years starting from January 2021. 

CJ SW Creativity Camp is a talent donation social contribution program in which CJ OliveNetworks’s employees provide SW coding education to children and youth based on their expertise free of charge. The participating employees comprise information and communications technology (ICT) specialists in IT system operation and management, artificial intelligence, and big data research.

The program began in 2015 and was initially provided to the marginalized children and youth in Seoul Metropolitan Area and the Gyeonggi-do region. Later, the scope of the participants was expanded to women, multicultural youth, and children and youth from various regions who are marginalized in IT education. With this project, CJ OliveNetworks received the award, being recognized for its contributions in developing about 3,000 students into future ICT talents in the past 6 years.

As conventional classes became unavailable in light of COVID-19, CJ quickly digitized the curriculum of CJ SW Creativity Camp in a noncontact format. Meanwhile, the company also joined forces with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in CJ-UNESCO Girls’ Education Campaign, facilitating “Girls can do IT” programs for about 100 female middle school students in four middle schools in Gangwon-do Province, where opportunities for digital education are relatively scarce, leading to the education paradigm of post?COVID-19 era.

Moreover, the company also provided digital devices and educational materials, including webcams and Lego blocks, to encourage students’ participation in online classes. It successfully completed 15 weeks of Free Year Level education in the systematic education curriculum with the help of staff and CJ UNIT, a university student volunteer group. 

In particular, students will learn about the 17 topics of sustainable development goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations, and the educational effect has been maximized with the introduction of a project-based learning (PBL) curriculum, in which students will solve daily problems with IT. In addition, with the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) curriculum that offers a combination of coding and subjects such as science, art, and music, students who are unfamiliar with coding will learn about the topic in a fun and exciting way. 

Furthermore, a noncontact digital curriculum that provides female middle school students with tailored ICT career consultations was offered free of charge through the newly established digital mentoring training program.

“CJ SW Creativity Camp is a talent donation social contribution program in which our employees in the ICT field provide software coding education based on their expertise,” said team manager Lee In-Ik from CJ OliveNetworks, who designed the noncontact digital curriculum. “We intend to expand our educational charity activities by working closely with diverse local institutions to serve the youth who are marginalized in IT education,” the team manager continued.