Educating the future IT generation

The role of the state is not enough. Companies also try to increase the interest of young people in technical studies.

Illustrative stock photoIllustrative stock photo (Source: TASR)

The Accenture company attracted the jury of the 2017 Via Bona awards granted to socially responsible companies with its project aimed at increasing the interest of young people in informatics. Among other things, the project trains teachers to use more interesting tools to show schoolchildren that programming can be entertaining. As a result, they can learn the basics in an environment attractive for them, like Star Wars.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

Encouraging young people to study information technologies is no longer just the interest of state. The increasing number of companies has introduced their own programmes, showing children that IT can be fun.

SkryťTurn off ads

“If pupils find out that STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) subjects are nothing to be terrified of, but that they bring great opportunities, even the interest of those who wanted to study something else might be awakened,” Karol Kniewald, corporate affairs manager at Cisco, told The Slovak Spectator.

Risks for the economy

Read also: Slovak schools fight for IT students Read more 

The information and communications technologies (ICT) sector generates up to 6 percent of GDP and contributes a significant amount of money to the state budget. Moreover, statistics confirm that people working in the sector earn the highest salaries (€1,759 on average in February 2018) and belong among the most sought after occupations in the labour market. However, the demand for IT specialists exceeds the supply in the market, IT companies and associations warn. The problem is that the sector penetrates other jobs and nearly every profession now requires the IT basics at least.

SkryťTurn off ads

“The solution is to strengthen IT education, but not only in technical schools,” Kniewald said.

National programme

The Education Ministry’s answer to the problem is the IT Academy – Education for the 21st Century national programme, whose aim is to “create a model of education and the preparation of young people for the current and perspective needs of a knowledgeable society and the labour market with a focus on informatics and ICT”.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

Friends drinking a kapurková shot.

Slovak Matters: Departures, even when drinking

The last column was dedicated to saying hello; now we go over the last word, whether saying goodbye or taking the customary last shot.


13 h
Filip Toška holding chard in the hydroponic Hausnatura farm.

How a Mayan doomsday prophecy took a Slovak to hi-tech agriculture

Hydroponic farm run out of former telephone exchange.


9. mar
Some Ukrainian students report being bullied due to their nationality. UNICEF works with schools so that they can provide a tolerant and respectful environment as well as activities that facilitate positive relationships and promote inclusion.

The silent toll of the war in Ukraine is on minds

Friends are essential for mental health, but only one in three Ukrainian children in Slovakia are currently enrolled in school.


20. mar
The price of 400 food products has been capped by eight retailers.

News digest: Retailers' move to make food more affordable

A group of old houses in Banská Štiavnica damaged by fire, Eduard Heger's new party, and 10 biggest tax debtors.


23 h
SkryťClose ad