The ICT Minister, Karen Abudinen, announced at the Governors’ Summit that in March of 2021, an official launch of the fourth phase of the initiative “Programming for boys and girls” will be taking place with the assistance of the British Council. Alliance was created in 2020 with the purpose of training 8,500 teachers from all over Colombia in computational thinking. As a space to share knowledge with 500,000 school boys and girls in Colombia to reduce the talent gap in the tech industry. 

Done through the “micro: bit” implementation, a programmable pocket microcomputer to display the idea. Aiming to develop creativity, problem-solving, and programming skills in young children to reduce the talent gap in the industry. 

Betting for a generation of new talents.

The ICT Ministry set up an investment of 2.5million dollars for 2021 to promote education in the technology industry. Eight thousand five hundred public school teachers are in training. And the trained ones from last year too.

“The objective of this program is to have teachers from all regions, to be that link with young boys and girls so that new development opportunities can arise at the Colombian ground” 

Karen Abudinen, ICT Ministry

As a result, the ICT Ministry has firmly committed to surpassing the talent gap of more than 112,000 programmers by 2025. According to a study carried out by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co, with the guidance of the National Education Ministry. Therefore, Minister Karen Abudinen has been directly speaking to the country’s governors to promote the initiative, making Colombia one of the nations with the most significant technological development in the region. 

Supporting educational access to reduce the talent gap in the tech industry.

Continuing with the initiative of the ICT ministry, the call for the Digital Educational Environments project was also initiated with one from Computers to Educate. This will help to ensure high-quality education standards inside the Colombian territory. The investment for these projects will be 3million dollars to impact 4,000 decent people and at least 40,000 students. 

The delivery of 250 venues will implement the plan with STEM labs. So that knowledge and skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics can be stimulated. Lastly, providing 800 Maker Kit for educational sites will make part of it. 

Original article by mintic.gov.co: https://rb.gy/ougmpn