The Yarl IT Hub was established in the northern peninsula eight years ago, an year after the end of the civil war. It started off as a non-profit social enterprise, with the aim to make Jaffna ‘the next Silicon Valley.’
The idea first took off on social media, and has evolved steadily since. The IT Hub now has its own coding school, and hosts the Yarl Geek Challenge (YGC). “We didn’t even have our own venues before,” Balathasan Sayanthan, one of the founding members, said. “We’d have to ask around for space for meetups every time we had one. At institutions, city halls, lecture halls and such.”
Now, the IT hub has three, from joint ventures, as well as spaces provided by well-wishers. The latest is a spacious home which has been converted into their coding school.
Spearheading Digital Education
Having run the Yarl Geek Challenge to foster a startup ecosystem, the Yarl IT Hub then introduced YGC Junior, aimed at educating and providing opportunity to school children.
The IT hub created Tamil language YouTube content, full of tutorials which enabled students to teach themselves to code. Their volunteers train and mentor students, and have discovered a number of child prodigies along the way.
The idea first took off on social media, and has evolved steadily since. The IT Hub now has its own coding school, and hosts the Yarl Geek Challenge (YGC). “We didn’t even have our own venues before,” Balathasan Sayanthan, one of the founding members, said. “We’d have to ask around for space for meetups every time we had one. At institutions, city halls, lecture halls and such.”
Now, the IT hub has three, from joint ventures, as well as spaces provided by well-wishers. The latest is a spacious home which has been converted into their coding school.
Spearheading Digital Education
Having run the Yarl Geek Challenge to foster a startup ecosystem, the Yarl IT Hub then introduced YGC Junior, aimed at educating and providing opportunity to school children. The IT hub created Tamil language YouTube content, full of tutorials which enabled students to teach themselves to code. Their volunteers train and mentor students, and have discovered a number of child prodigies along the way.
