Syed Saddiq: Young must learn computer coding

KUALA LUMPUR: The younger generation should learn computer coding to improve their skills to face the challenges of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0), said Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

Young people should dare to think outside the box in increasing literacy related to computer knowledge, he added.

“In facing IR4.0, we should no longer be too dependent on conventional learning systems, we need to compete with young people from outside the country who generally have a high literacy in computer knowledge.

“The education system in Malaysia should be exposed to the subject of ‘coding’ and students must seize this opportunity, so that giant companies can make this country an investment destination because at that time we would have a generation with extensive knowledge of it, ” he said when launching the Hewlett Packard (HP) Generation Coding (#GenC) programme at Universiti Kuala Lumpur, British-Malaysian Institute (UniKL BMI) yesterday.

He also praised the efforts of HP Inc Malaysia, UniKL BMI and Microsoft which had held free class initiatives for students to learn about the basic principle of “coding”.

HP Inc Malaysia managing director Fayza Mohamed Amin said the company was targeting 400 primary and secondary students from 10 schools in Kuala Lumpur to obtain a certificate in basic coding skills through the #GenC programme in 2020.

“To date, we have been successful in giving away certificates to 200 students from five schools through the classes from September until November.

“We exposed Scratch Coding to seven- to 12-year-old pupils while students aged 13 to 17 years were taught ‘Python Coding’ at the HP Technology Laboratory here.

“At the global level, HP targets 100 million people to have coding literacy in 2025. To date, we are already at 21%, namely, 21 million people, and we will continue to boost this number, ’’ she said. — Bernama