Stefan Mileschin

Estonia is hoping to push kids into programming from an early age.

According to Venture Beat, the Estonian Tiger Leap Foundation has launched a program called "ProgeTiiger", where students in grades one to 12 will be introduced to computer programming and creating web and mobile applications.

The country which gave the world Skype and Playtech is planning to set its kids onto programming more or less from their first day at school, while British kids are mumbling their way through the alphabet.

Tiger Leap Foundation training sphere manager Ave Lauringson said kids are interested in modern technology from an early age, and the ProgeTiiger programme creates prerequisites for students to develop from consumers of software to developers of software.

At the moment the programme is being tested in pilot schools with plans to roll it out to state schools later.

However, the first ones to start the lessons will be primary school students - after their teachers go through corresponding training in September.

Then there will be programming hobby groups for middle school and selective courses for high school.

Estonian Tiger Leap Foundation said that it started this project because it saw how many companies struggle to find decent programmers. The group believes it will push Estonia to the forefront of the rest of the Eastern Europe in terms of IT development and growth.

http://news.techeye.net/software/est...ry-school-kids