We cannot deny it that the world is constantly changing, children have bigger expectations, and the 4th industrial revolution is entirely related to Technology. When thinking of ways to provide our kids with these numerous and extremely needed 21st-century skills, coding (the act of using languages to instruct a computer to perform functions) comes to mind. Coding is much more than just writing a few lines of a weird language to make something do what we want it to do.
Coding is the language of the future while some might say that in Africa, most particular in Zimbabwe, we are still lagging behind the trending Technologies around the world but Eyetro Digital projects that coding is the way in which we’ll interact with technology in the years to come, and not less important, knowing how and what to code will open the doors for our kids to the workforce they are going to face. No matter what industry they’ll be interested in.
So Why is this subject currently receiving so much attention around the globe and why is it so critical for kids to learn how to code? If you take a look around you right now almost a third of things are controlled by Technology. It’s hard to imagine a life without software usage today. When we wake up in the morning we use our digital alarm clock, we check our WhatsApp, emails, make phone calls and we drive cars that are software controlled, we are constantly connected to a network via our phone or computer, we make road trips based on a digital navigation system (GPS), we can now shop online, download our favourite Movies, we use programmed microwaves, washing machines to do our laundry. All of the above have been programmed by a developer and since these technologies play such a large role in modern life, we need more people who understand how they work, not only for future job opportunities but also during their current education. Schools are now starting to use devices rather than books as educational tools which makes it crucial that our children know how to operate them.
The Mobile penetration in Zimbabwe as reported by Telecoms Regulator has been growing significantly over the past 2 quarters with active internet penetration rate increasing by 0.9% to reach 49.5% from 48.6% recorded in the previous quarter following a 1.9% increase in active subscriptions hence the use of technology in the country is rising. Whilst Digital Marketing is going in the country where most businesses are now in need of a website, and to run social media a lot, recently a Facebook Owned social Media came out with an application solely for Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the WhatsApp business application clears forces every business owner to operate with such. This shows that the tech global trends will affect any individual.
In 2016, the government of Zimbabwe launched STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) programme, which was meant to encourage students to take such subjects to enrich them with science and technology.
However, the African continent is thriving to promote Coding, Africa Code of Week organisation projected that “Over the next 25 years, Africa’s working-age population will double to one billion, exceeding that of China and India. In the meantime, the digital skills gap is widening: while coding has the power to put millions of young Africans on the path to successful careers and empower them to build sustainable growth, companies in Africa” Africa Code of week is an organization that holds an annual continent-wide event which is intended to spark the interest of African children, teenagers and young adults in software coding. The event mostly run for 8 days with almost every country in Africa being represented at the event.
With this rate Eyetro Digital would want to urge all the parents who have kids in primary level to invest more in ICT mainly in Programming, this will make their kids fit in the coming society ahead of us where everything will be Smart, most work will need a lot of algorithms and codes. By having your child to embrace this skill it will make them easy to come out with any solutions in whatever field they will be. IT is everywhere.
