Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A year-long course on the basics of programming in Python has started at the Yandex Programming School. The classes began with a lecture: the students were congratulated on the start of the new school year and were told more about the training program. During the lessons, children will learn to write and test code, work with language libraries, and do small projects on their own.

“Yandex is not just a technology company, it is a team of specialists with experience in a wide variety of IT areas. And, in addition to working on services, we have been involved in education for many years. It’s difficult to build a career in IT without quality knowledge, and such projects help schoolchildren gain relevant skills and understand how to develop,” said Sergey Brazhnik, director of the Yandex Academy.

Classes will be held twice a week for two academic hours after the main lessons at school. Here, schoolchildren in grades 8–10 will become familiar with the basics of development in Python: key concepts, constructs, and libraries of the language. To enroll, schoolchildren had to pass a test and an interview - the competition was limited to 12 people per place. The project is being launched in Uzbekistan for the first time on the basis of an IT park in Tashkent.

School graduates will be able to continue their education in IT, but in an online format at the Yandex Lyceum. Students will be able to choose a new course in Go or a specialization in game development, data analysis, machine learning, or web development using Django, a set of tools for creating websites and applications in Python.

The Programming School project is a free Yandex educational project for schoolchildren in grades 8–10 interested in programming and the exact sciences. Implemented in Uzbekistan with the support of Yandex Go.