7 Countries that Have Adopted Coding as Subject in Primary, Secondary Education Curricula


As the world economy is rapidly shifting from Petro-Dollar to a Tech-Dollar economy, and as technical skills are becoming increasingly in demand, some countries are beginning to educate their children technically to prepare them for future jobs. One of the strategies is by including coding in primary and secondary education curricula.

Human jobs are being threatened by robotics and machines. To play catch-up, young’s ones have to possess the skills to be part of technological innovations that develop and operate robotics and machines.

Investing in technological education has become a national goal some countries are trying to achieve, some have reached advanced stages while others are still starting up, especially in Africa.

Most of the technological changes taking place are driven by coding, some countries have therefore started to respond to a new digital education system.

Coding, or computer programming education, is now accorded the same importance as learning English and Math in schools — compulsory subjects every school child must learn. Some countries have started to make coding a separate subject from computer science for pupils to start learning from primary school.

Some countries like Israel for example started to teach kids how to code from kindergarten, this goes a long way in shaping the mentality of children and giving them the chance to embrace technology at the early stage of their lives.

Countries that Have Implemented Coding as a Subject in Primary Secondary Education Curricula

  1. Australia
  2. Singapore
  3. South Africa
  4. Philippines
  5. Qatar
  6. United Arab Emirates
  7. Kenya

Singapore

Singapore, which adopted computer science education in 2014,  made it a compulsory subject in 2020. The coding usually runs for 10 hours.

Singaporean government, in 2017 released $3 million aimed at distributing 100,000 pocket-size code-able gadgets to school children ahead of the 2020 take-off and has been expending budget allocations on the programme annually.

The coding programme code-named “Coding for Fun” was an optional enrichment class for primary and secondary school students when it was first launched in 2014. Apart from schools, there are many other places in Singapore where children are taught how to code. Such places include  SG Code Campus, First Code Academy, Early Coders Academy, Saturday Kids, and Computhink Kids.

Philippines

Another country that has introduced coding as a subject in primary and secondary schools is the Philippines. Although, the government is not much committed to the project, as it spends so little on coding education compared with Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, the pupils show much interest in coding and are willing to learn coding in school. According to information by Robogarden, about 97% of the students in the Philippines are interested in learning about coding and 96% want coding to be made a core subject in their schools.

Apart from schools, there are other places in Philippines where kids are taught how to code. One of the places that started in the Philippines in an effort to educate children on how to code, there is Kaya Coding is one of the pioneer places that educate children on how to code in the Philippines. Kaya Coding was founded by a group of Stanford graduates, who have worked at Google, Apple, and other Silicon Valley companies; with the intention to give everyone access to coding.

Australia

With the increasing need for tech talent and the future of work drifting towards technology, Australia is responding appropriately by equipping its young generation with tech knowledge in order to prepare them for the future. To achieve kindergarten and basic education on coding, Australian government spends $64 million to fund early learning and school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)  initiatives under the Inspiring All Australians in Digital Literacy and STEM measure.

In pursuance of this initiative, the country also approved some other centres where people can learn how to code. One of them is the Australian Digital Technologies Challenges, which is a series of free online teaching and activities available to all Australian students to acquire digital skills. The Digital Challenges are online classrooms in accordance with the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies.

South Africa

South Africa was the first African country to adopt coding education at the primary and secondary levels.

In 2020, South Africa began its journey in teaching kids how to code in schools by providing programs for teachers for them to learn how to teach coding to be able to pass the same knowledge to the students.

“Software engineer” is the most in-demand job in South Africa and for this reason, the government in South Africa is paying much attention to technical education; arming their kids with relevant technical skills to fit in when it comes to future jobs.

Some of the places that offer coding and programming courses are CodeX, CodeSpace, and Code College

United Arab Emirates

As the demand for tech talents in the world of work increases, the United Arab Emirates was one of the frontier countries that have responded to implementing the technological revolutions in the educational system in the world. According to data by Verdict, more than 90%of parents in UAE were eager to have their children taught how to code in schools, as of the year 2020, about 35% of schools in the country started to implement coding classes for their students. The Arab country started to transform the whole educational system by adopting the use of e-books, robotics, and other emerging technologies in teaching and learning.

Looking for places to learn coding UAE, places such as The Code, Fun Robotics, STEM for Kids, La Wagon, and Skill Bloc etc teach coding with courses and classes mainly designed for children to learn how to code. Through “One Million Arab Coders” which started in 2018, over one million Arabs have learned virtual coding techniques in the past three years.

Qatar

Another Gulf country that is making efforts to prepare its young generation for the technological revolution that will shape future jobs, is Qatar. The oil-rich nation is restructuring its education system to include coding.

Qatar is considered to be one of the fastest education sectors in the Gulf and is rated to be the 5th country for its quality of higher education and training. Hamad Bin Jassim Center for K-12 computer science education which aims to promote computer science education in schools throughout Qatar to develop the students’ basic computational thinking skills is one of the places that teach kids coding.

Kenya

In August 2022, the Kenyan government announced the inclusion of coding as a subject in its education curriculum for primary and secondary pupils, making the country the second African country to adopt coding education at its primary and secondary levels.

The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in partnership with Kodia Africa, developed a syllabus and was approved by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, to enable school children in Kenya the opportunity to learn coding and computer programming in public schools after the government officially unveiled coding teaching content.

Under the supervision of the country`s ministry of education and ICT authority, through the Digital Literacy Program (DLP), the curriculum will be implemented across all public primary and secondary schools in Kenya according to Kenyan national digital master plan 2022-2032.

The National Digital Master Plan targets to establish over 20,000 village digital hubs across the country where the government will employ an additional 40,000 youth directly to run the centers and train the citizens who are interested in learning coding and other digital skills.

Countries agree that coding is the important language of the future that kids should learn either in schools or during off-school hours. The digital future and the increase in the number of technical jobs coming along is calling for a similar percentage of children who know computer science or even the basics. A lot of countries have already taken the lead and started to implement coding in their education curriculum, and there are those who are still taking their initial steps.

Coding courses and classes might be found in lots of countries but teaching kids to code through a game-based platform is what we need more of. Sign up and learn to code through our coding games.

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