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The need for programming education

Although you may not know it yet, in Japan, programming education will be required in elementary schools starting from 2020.

Under the ‘Japan Revitalization Strategy 2016’ announced by the Japan Economic Revitalization Headquarters, programming education will be compulsory at all elementary schools from 2020, junior high schools from 2021, and high schools from 2022.

Certainly, programming has attracted some attention in recent years, and the programmers can be thought of as something that is increasing in demand.

It is also said that there will be a shortage of programmers in the next few years.

I think that some people would think, “Isn’t programming education becoming a compulsory subject to reflect changes in societal trends and demands?” This article introduces the need for programming education.

Why we need programming education

Here are some of the reasons why we as a society need programming education.

1: Development of society by technological innovation

If you are not familiar with programming, you may have no idea that there are many things related to programming in your everyday life.

Programming is vitally utilised in industries such as agriculture, in games such as Pokemon, in mobile applications such as “line” and “Messenger”, and in home appliances.

In recent years, areas/industries of note that have benefited from programming include “Iot” and “Robot”.

As the programming industry develops, it is thought that technology will become more innovative and society will benefit and develop.

2: To make up for the shortage of human resources

I have mentioned that programming is attracting more and more attention, but the programming industry is expected to become even more exciting in the future.

Various companies are currently making salary improvements for programming-related jobs to secure excellent system engineers.

However, even if the salaries are being raised, it would be meaningless if there are too few qualified individuals to fill the positions.

Therefore, by making programming education mandatory, our young will be exposed to programming from the time of elementary school and can help combat the expected future shortage of human resources.

3: Children’s understanding broadens

Learning programming will broaden your child’s perspective.

Even in areas that would seem unrelated to programming, such as in agriculture, programming is present and complex programming systems are heavily relied upon for efficiency and productivity.

If you are working in a modern society, such as the baby boomer generation, there will be programming-related jobs in areas that you would not intuitively expect.

Twenty years ago, who could have predicted that programmers would become so high in demand? Programming education is necessary for children who will shape and control the future from now on.