Coding will be in Malaysia’s school curricula next year, says MDEC

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The Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has revealed that coding will be part of our national school’s syllabus starting next year. According to MDEC CEO Yasmin Mahmood, coding will not only be taught as part of a computer science subject but will also be incorporated into the method of teaching for science and maths classes.

Yasmin has also announced that they will be launching “something called the digital maker movement” next month where coding will be embedded as an official curriculum in schools, starting from standard three onward. According to her, the pilot programme has already been running since last year in 22 different schools. She also said that it will be headed by the Education ministry (with MDEC’s help) and will be part of the Primary School Standard Curriculum (KSSR) and Secondary School Standard Curriculum (KSSM) set to roll out next year.

We live in a world where technology is in almost every part of our daily routine and in the past, our education system has been trying to teach students how to use this technology. By incorporating coding into our school curriculum, though, MDEC said that it would encourage school-going youth to participate as the creators of technology, rather than just the end users.

The benefits of coding don’t end there either. Google has noted that with coding, children aren’t just learning how to program computers, they’re also learning valuable problem solving skills, creative expression and the development of computational thinking.

Speaking of technological giants, both Google and Apple have placed a lot of effort into the development of coding for children. Google’s Project Bloks is an interesting take on coding that gives children a more conducive environment for working together when coding, away from the computer screen.

Apple, on the other hand, has their Swift Playgrounds, which teaches users to code in Swift using an iPad.

All of these indicate that the world is heading in the direction of coding and computer programming, so we’re glad that Malaysia is taking proactive measures to ensure our youth can stay ahead of the curve by being one of the first countries to introduce coding into the national school syllabus.

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