In a
world where everything is digital, it is imperative that we teach our children
how to code. We are lagging behind the race for technological glory. Computer code is the language
that tells a computer to perform complex tasks. So by teaching coding
in our schools our kids will not only end up as end users but also as
entrepreneurs and nation builders.
The current computer lCT curriculum in
our schools are hinged on teaching student MS office applications rather than
teaching them to understand how the computer works and the ability to develop
programs. Teaching kids to write documents is in itself not bad but why waste
precious instructional hours on basic computer skills that every student can
learn on their own due to the availability of self-tutoring videos on platforms
like Youtube.
Many countries including UK and
Finland are moving from teaching basic computer literacy skills like typing,
desktop pblishing and document processing to more advanced skills like to coding to help students acquire algorithmic
skills. These countries have realized that for their future leaders to take full
advantage of the digital economy, they need these coding skill set.
However, we in Ghana are still stuck
in our old ways of doing things. This means that we are developing children
into a digital economy digitally illiterate.
When you trace the life of the tech
moguls of our era like Mark Zuckerberg, Serge Brin and Bill Gates, you come to
a realization that by the time they came out with product like Google, Facebook
and Microsoft, they had already had more than 10 years’ experience of using the
computer for various assignment whiles in my generation, most of us had our
first real encounters with computers after we were 18 years. This does not help
to bridge the digital divide.
There is the need for the Ministry of
Education to take a serious look at the ICT curriculum in the basic and
secondary schools and radically restructure it since it does not provide the
students with the necessary skill set to take advantage of the digital economy.
When you look at what other countries as doing with regards to ICT curriculum,
we seem way far behind. A number of countries have introduced coding skills to
their students as early as age five.
Some countries have Computer Science
as a subject at the pre-secondary and secondary levels to provide their
students with coding skills early in life. No wonder their graduates create all
the content and devices whiles ours end up being just end users.
Whiles the Education Ministry delays
the design and implementation of coding
into the mainstream curriculum, schools can
take it upon themselves and establish coding clubs that will meet for one or
two hours a weeks to teach children the fundamentals of programming. There is
abundance of resources for such clubs on the internet. Teaching our kids to
code at an early age comes with the following advantage;
Competitive:
Computer technology and the internet has made the world flat and a global
village. Its implication is that a graduate in Ghana does not only compete with
fellow graduates in Ghana but people the world over. I know programmers who
live in Ghana and work for fortune 500 companies. The key here is if you know
your skills and you are good at what you do, you are in no way limited as to
where you take jobs.
Poverty Alleviation: Coding skills are an effective poverty alleviation tool especially for
those us in Africa. We in Ghana are always complaining of poverty and lack of
jobs for our youth but we can easily give our youth coding skills that will
help them to take jobs from elsewhere at a lower wage levels and still have
good standard of living. The internet have made this highly possible and all
they need is good internet access and a functional laptop or desktop.
Improved analytical skills: When kids learn to code, it will improve the way they
analyse and breakdown problems. This will equip them with key project
management skills that they can apply to other areas of their lives. It will also
strengthens their problem solving skills and logical thinking and supports key
academic subjects such as science, mathematics and technology.
Innovative:
Coding also help kids to consider different approaches to solving problems they
encounter and develop innovative ways to solve them. Learning to code will help
students to look at problems in a way they could not have imagined and design
innovative approaches to solving them.
Perseverance and focus: Let’s not be deceived, I am not saying our kids will start
building mega software in a matter of weeks. It is an open secret that learning
to code is a difficult skills to acquire but it also well known that if
children are given the opportunity early in life, they turn to perform wonders
by the time they reach their teenage years. This is because they build the
spirit of perseverance over the years as they take on different projects and
this strengthens the self-belief when they encounter difficult task later in
life.
So
why is coding skills being taught in only a few elite school across the
country? The obstacles include an already packed curriculum, lack of
computers, inadequate or non-existent power supply to schools and teachers who don’t have the
skills to teach coding.
However,
looking at the numerous benefits of teaching kids coding and the potential it
can unlock, I firmly believe we need to fix this sooner rather than later.
