SK Telecom (CEO Park Jung-ho) has resolved the ICT information gap for disabled youth and created an easy and enjoyable platform for experiencing coding and artificial intelligence.

SKT announced on the 26th that it will hold the 'Happy Coding Challenge' in collaboration with the Korea Disabled People's Federation.

The 'Happy Coding Challenge' is a competition in which 80 disabled youth aged 14 to 24 and 20 teachers attending special schools (classes) across the country solve coding tasks and quizzes.

The program is designed to allow middle and high school students with physical and developmental disabilities to have fun and compete in a friendly manner while learning the principles of coding.

Students, organized into teams of two, sequentially input command cards into the coding robot 'Albert' to carry out the task of moving recyclables (cans, bottles, plastic, paper) on a globe-shaped field to their respective collection points. The team that achieves the goal the fastest wins.

Young people with hearing or physical disabilities can work in teams of two to create an AI model that recognizes various types of trash using a laptop computer and a camera, and participate in a competition that evaluates the creativity and code completeness of their programs.

students with developmental disabilitiesThere's even a dedicated competition for those who want to hear it. This competition involves collecting participants' body movement data with motion-recognition cameras, creating an AI model, and then applying this model to a game where participants control a character seeking eco-friendly energy through body movements. The results are then evaluated to see how well it performs.

Participating students will also compete in an individual environmental quiz competition, where they will showcase their knowledge of the environment and energy. The winning teams in each category will receive various awards, including the Minister of Education Award, the Minister of Science and ICT Award, and the Minister of Health and Welfare Award.

The event will be broadcast live on YouTube by connecting video from the five regional event venues in Seoul, Suwon, Daejeon, South Chungcheong Province, and Daegu. The progress and results of the event can also be seen on KBS's 'Family of Love', which will air on the 30th.

Since 1999, SKT has hosted events to support youth with disabilities in developing their ICT capabilities. These events, titled "Information Search Competition," "IT Challenge," and "ICT Makerthon," feature competition categories aligned with ICT trends, establishing themselves as leading ICT experience events for youth with disabilities.

In particular, this year's 'Happy Coding Challenge' was designed to increase learning efficiency while providing a fun way to learn coding, which has become an essential skill for future generations. Through this, we enabled young people to naturally feel the need for environmental protection and resource recycling.

SK Telecom ESG Innovation Group Director Yoo Woong-hwan said, “SK Telecom has been operating the Happy Coding School, a coding education program for youth with disabilities, since 2019,” and “As understanding and utilizing coding is becoming increasingly important, we plan to continue developing ICT experience programs for youth with disabilities.”