European Union Education Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou and Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes called on education ministers across the EU to give children the opportunity to develop basic coding skills at school at an early age.
This could help to reduce the high youth unemployment rates in Europe and close the growing gap between skills and jobs in the ICT (information and communication technology) sector. Kroes and Vassiliou warned that by 2020 the ICT skills gap could equate to a 900,000 shortfall in computer science specialists. In response to this Slovak Education Minister Peter Pellegrini has pledged to boost the number of computer science classes for children at primary schools. As the Hospodarske Noviny daily brings even the youngest Slovak pupils at primary schools currently have three ICT classes per week. Older kids, from the fifth to the ninth grades have to attend five such classes. As of the next school year Education Minister Pellegrini now wants to add at least two more classes per week for the older children at primary schools. The Minister further claims that this shouldn't be the only solution. “By introducing new technologies into schools as early as from first grade, even the youngest pupils are able to acquire ITC skills outside the compulsory ITC classes,” stated the minister. According to Ctibor Kostal of the Slovak Governance Institute (SGI), the measure could find a snag, as there might not be enough qualified people to teach the subject. Potential ICT teachers tend to select other professional paths where they are better paid.
