Teach coding from a young age at school

CHILDREN are growing up surrounded by technology amidst IR4.0 (the Fourth Industrial Revolution), so computational thinking and coding should be considered essential abilities. As such, the Education Ministry should review if such critical skills and knowledge are being taught to primary school children.

The British and the Japanese are following Estonia in including coding as a compulsory subject at the primary level – in Estonia, students are taught at kindergarten about coding and the use of computers. Teaching coding from young will encourage children to be creative when using technology in their education and work later on in life.

In this 5G era, governments, researchers, policymakers and stakeholders worldwide are calling for compulsory education and standardised testing for computer literacy in schools and in workplaces for entry level employment.

Initiatives to increase computer literacy are being undertaken by the private sector, universities and nonprofit organisations globally through programmes such as Hour of Code, EU Code Week, CS Education Week, and CS for All.

Prominent IT billionaires such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and other leading technology figures are also promoting learning to code as a basis for overall development, just like learning reading, writing and arithmetic are crucial in laying the foundation for learning in general.

C. SATHASIVAM SITHERAVELLU , Seremban