Should children learn programming starting in primary school?

Learning to program early not only provides students with a solid foundation in digital knowledge and skills but also opens up many new opportunities for them when entering the job market.

Vietnam is facing a shortage of high-quality information technology (IT) personnel. This is a long-standing problem that has yet to be resolved effectively.

The short and poorly allocated time for programming training across different educational levels is considered one of the contributing factors.

To overcome these limitations, at a recent seminar on digital workforce, many experts proposed incorporating programming into the general education curriculum, especially at the high school level, to help students gain early access to technology and prepare for the labor market.

According to Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son, former Director of the Education Department of the Central Committee for Science and Education, and Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Educational Psychology, Vietnamese people are very intelligent, yet paradoxically, Vietnam is known for its cheap labor force.

“ Vietnamese youth are strong and capable, yet they only earn 5-7 million VND per month. In technology companies, each worker only needs a desk of about 2 square meters and a computer to write software, and their productivity is equivalent to that of hundreds of unskilled laborers. It's time for Vietnam to have a workforce that is not cheap but of high quality ,” Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son expressed his hope.

Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Educational Psychology - Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son. Photo: TD

Sharing his perspective on this issue, Mr. To Hong Nam, Deputy Director of the Information Technology Department, Ministry of Education and Training, said that in order to have quality students entering university, it is necessary to equip high school students with knowledge, thinking skills, and abilities in Mathematics, STEM, and programming.

According to the Deputy Director of the IT Department, capable and aspiring young people can receive early career guidance starting from high school. This helps them enter the labor market immediately after completing their high school education.

From the perspective of a training institution, Mr. Chu Tuan Anh, Director of Aptech Vietnam, stated that in developed countries such as the US, UK, and South Korea, students have already mastered several programming technologies like Python and Java before entering university.

Vietnamese students have very little time during their four years of university to learn programming, while most of their time is devoted to general and foundational courses.

" Expecting Vietnamese students to master new technologies within such a short training period is impossible ," Mr. Tuan Anh commented.

As one of the pioneers in introducing programming skills into the secondary school curriculum, Mr. Hoang Van Luoc (Da Tri Tue Inter-level School) believes that the younger generation in Vietnam needs to quickly grasp and access technology, especially AI and Big Data.

" We must introduce technology and programming subjects into high school curricula right now. After three years of study, students will receive a high school diploma, and they can even start working immediately to earn money to support their families ," Mr. Luoc said.

Young people in a programming course. Photo: TĐ

In fact, incorporating programming into the high school curriculum not only helps address the workforce shortage but also brings many benefits to students.

As a parent who enrolled her child in programming classes starting in 10th grade, Ms. NL Huong ( Hanoi ) was initially very worried and confused, unsure whether her child could keep up with the program, and if not, what alternative path to take.

However, she breathed a sigh of relief when, after finishing high school, her daughter not only passed her programming graduation exam but also got accepted into universities in the country.

Sharing her family's story, she said that her daughter had changed a lot during her three years of high school. Learning programming helps young people develop a programming mindset, which in turn allows them to study all other academic subjects in a very scientific way.

" Learning programming also helps children develop the thinking skills needed to write essays and CVs that will impress recruiters later on. Programming thinking is not only useful for young people in their work and studies, but also in their later lives, especially when making decisions ," Ms. Huong said.

Overall, experts agree that incorporating programming into the high school curriculum is a viable and necessary solution to address the shortage of high-quality IT professionals in Vietnam.

This not only helps students build a solid foundation of digital knowledge and skills but also opens up many new opportunities for them when entering the labor market.

Teachers worry about falling behind as students learn to use AI. As young people become increasingly proficient in using AI, teachers also need to learn how to apply AI to create engaging lessons and avoid being outsmarted by their students.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/tre-em-co-nen-hoc-lap-trinh-ngay-tu-bac-hoc-pho-thong-2338677.html