Communications of the ACM
Coding Will Be Mandatory in Japan's Primary Schools Starting in 2020
Student at a Japanese elementary school programs a robot's movements.
Credit: Shihoko Nakaoka / Asian Review
Computer programming will become a mandatory subject in Japan's elementary schools starting in April 2020, as the country seeks to train a new generation in highly sought information technology skills.
The basics of coding will be taught starting in the fifth grade. New textbooks approved by the education ministry task students with digitally drawing polygons and making LED lights blink using simple commands, for example.
As IT grows increasingly more rooted in society, international competition in tech is heating up. Japan has gotten off to a slow start on programming education, but now aims to create a broader pool of potential tech workers, exposing children to coding early so that those with the interest and skill can be trained as specialists.
Japan will be short about 290,000 tech workers by 2020 and about 590,000 by 2030 if the IT market grows at a moderate pace, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry calculated in 2016. That year, a government council on industrial competitiveness vowed to make programming mandatory in grade school education.
From Nikkei Asian Review
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