Learning to code will help prepare the kids for the world they live in today. Programming is too important to be left just to computer science departments - it can be taught effectively outside of computer science. Beyond the practical reasons for learning how to code, there's the fact that creating a game or animation can be really fun for kids. The Dariu Foundation recognizes the importance of code literacy and we plan to provide the youth with coding skills in our own mobile schools.
In Vietnam, computer literacy is still an unaffordable luxury for most children, especially in the rural areas. In most schools, there are no computers for students to learn basic computer skills. Therefore, the gap between kids in the urban and rural areas is widening and poverty is driving poor rural kids out of schools, making their future more vulnerable. The same is true for code literacy. The rural youth completely lack access to code literacy education.
There is a worldwide trend to declare coding as a compulsory subjects in primary schools and becomes an equivalent to reading, writing and counting, so that the children are well prepared for the future. Vietnam has no such plans for the moment being, alas, teaching code literacy is the only chance for the rural youth to hop on that train. By learning how to code, the participants get the chance to attend ongoing education and/or a job they would not find/get otherwise.
The children we aim for are between 6 and 15 years old (primary and secondary school level) and we are particularly careful about the ratio between boys and girls (50/50). In year 1, we will teach 40'000 and in year 2 75'000 youth. The demand in the rural schools for coding are very high - while the state schools are not offering these courses. By teaching these children how to code, we open a whole new area of development for a brighter future.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
