Singapore will introduce programming lessons in public schools to boost the economy

Terence Lee:

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), a government agency in charge of the country's internet industry, has announced plans to progressively introduce software programming classes into public schools, giving students an opportunity to write code in a classroom setting. The news was first reported on Good Morning Singapore in mandarin yesterday.

Given the rapidly changing nature of the technology industry, the agency hopes to roll out these classes quickly in the next few months with the ultimate aim of keeping the Singapore economy at the top.

"Infocomm technology is getting to be more pervasive, and we all recognize that it's going to be a strategic catalyst for [Singapore's] competitive advantage," said James Kang, assistant chief executive of the government chief information office at IDA.

To be sure, topics like programming and 3D printing are already available in some schools as extra-curricular activities with IDA's help, so it's unclear for now how these classes differ from previous initiatives, and how the IDA works with the education ministry to introduce the field. Tech in Asia has contacted the agency for more details.

Related: Madison considers more hardware for schools.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at January 15, 2014 12:57 AM
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