Public Schools

South Africa’s Department of Basic Education (DBE) will introduce coding and robotics into the school curriculum for Grades R to 3 and Grade 7 in 2023, following a pilot project that began in the third term of 2021 for Grades R to 3 and Grade 7 students.

The pilot for Grades 4 to 6 and Grade 8 was implemented in 2022 and will be followed by a Grade 9 pilot in 2023. Full-scale implementation of coding and robotics into the school curriculum for Grades 4 to 6 and Grade 8 is planned for 2024, and the Grade 9s will follow suit in 2025.

The DBE said that the task team for the development of the coding and robotics curriculum met recently to finalise the process of strengthening the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) for the subject.

Private Schools

For the independent school network, Curro, students in Grade R have already begun to learn robotics and coding. “Regardless of government requirements, Curro and Curro Academy have started implementing robotics from the foundation phase in some branches, including Protea Glen (in Soweto),” it said.

“Curro has become almost like a trendsetter in actually introducing that subject to our kids even before the government said that it’s compulsory,” said Swart Sibanyoni, head of the Primary School at Curro Protea Glen based in Soweto.

Learners at Protea Glen even benefit from being introduced to robotics through Duplo Lego robots using the ASUS BR1100 laptops.

“We’ve all heard that we’re preparing children of today for jobs in the future that don’t exist yet. And it’s mostly true if you consider what they’re learning in schools now.”

Benefits of Coding

Future careers require persons with digital skills that will equip and enable them to function effectively in a digital era, said the DBE. The teaching of coding and robotics will equip and expose learners to digital literacy, virtual reality, augmented reality, machine learning, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, it said.

“The future requires individuals who can build robots and other sophisticated machines and develop algorithms to code these machines. A code is an instruction given to a machine to follow that enables the machine to perform instructed functions. So, it is important to prepare our learners for this changing world.”

https://businesstech.co.za/news/technology/637199/new-subjects-set-for-schools-in-south-africa-next-year/

While we are more interested in Arabic, Islamic and Christian Religious studies.. A nation that doesn't teach it's students history

Imagine a common graduate that can't use MS WORD expecting to get employed in this tech era?

Naija which one we dey do?