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Decades ago, computer programming was seen as a skill reserved for computer professionals, also sometimes referred to as computer geeks and nerds. The general perception was that coding skill was for students and professionals of computer science and Engineering, and Information Technology. However, things have changed with time in a sense that nowadays computer programming is regarded as an essential ability for all the 21st century learners. As the matter of fact, computer programming is becoming a key component of curriculums in institutions of learning across the globe. Engineering colleges in India, for example, have started incorporating “Introduction to Computer Programming (ICP)” as a major subject in departments such as mechanical, automobile, electrical and even civil engineering. In fact, even as we speak now, some countries around the globe have made tremendous progress in coding education to the extent of introducing coding lessons in primary schools. It’s interesting to note that pupils in those countries are already involved in developing computer games and other software products.

A 2016 Gallup report found that 40% of American schools now offer coding classes, compared to just 25% a few years ago.

There is likelihood that that figure has increased drastically in 2022. In Australia, the government has been investing in STEM initiatives in recent years, and coding classes will soon be mandatory in Queensland schools. Meanwhile in the UK, kids aged five and over have been learning the fundamentals of coding since 2014.

This data helps us understand that coding education has become so important that it should be pushed up the button of priorities for sustainable economic growth in this ...digital age. For starters, basic coding courses in schools provide students with the know-how to develop their own websites, and other software applications. Coding education is so important, not only for students who are interested in pursuing a career in computer programming, but also those who would like to gain a better understanding of technology and how it’s shaping our world as we transition from the analogous to the digital form of service delivery.

What does it mean to code, anyway? Coding basically means telling machines what to do. This is not as easy as it may sound. The reason why coding is too complicated is because it requires the mastery of a problem-solving skill known as computational thinking, which involves breaking larger tasks into a logical sequence of smaller steps, diagnosing errors and coming up with new approaches when necessary.

The aim of this article is to educate the reader on why coding education is so crucial that it has to be incorporated into our education curricula in both secondary and primary levels of education in our country South Sudan. You see coding education is crucial in addressing real life problems we face at both individual levels as well as all levels of our societies. In a country like ours where thousands of students who graduate every year find it difficult to integrate into the job markets, coding education plays vital role in reducing the rate of youth unemployment. It’s absurd to find a graduate of computer science and IT struggling to develop simple applications such as static and dynamic websites and mobile applications. Sadly, this is the case in South Sudan. Our graduates are so pumped up with theoretical knowledge for the entire duration of their degree or diploma programs that they don’t know what to do after completion of their studies. This compromises the quality of service delivery in important sectors such as technology and engineering. Moreover, pupils and students in primary and secondary schools, respectively, are not exposed to hands-on computer education. They eventually struggle when they reach universities.

My colleagues from South Sudan and I had a similar struggle during our first year of college in India. Unlike our Indian counterparts in the class, we found it extremely difficult to really understand computer programming concepts. I remember asking one of my Indian classmates why they seemed to be not struggling so much like us in subjects involving coding. He told me that most of them had exposure to the basics of coding in high school before joining college. That was the main difference. We were not inferior to them in any way. We just had no background skills in coding. It was a completely new experience and it took time for some of us to be in the same page of understanding with our colleagues. I bring this story to try to convince you that teaching secondary students how to code is a great way to prepare them for easy and strong transition into the workforce in the tech industry.

Moreover, in our South Sudanese context, we are currently faced with enormous shortage of computer science and engineering professionals, Network Engineers, product developers, software professionals and system integrators. We are losing important jobs to foreigners because we rightly don’t have enough skilled labour force to dominate our IT market. In order to solve this problem and secure a future in which we are able to solve our technology problems using our own skilled human resources, we need to recognize that the influx of coding in the classroom should be encouraged because it prepares students for real-life situations and sets them up for a strong transition into the workforce. With this, I am suggesting that we introduce coding education in our secondary schools in all the ten (10) states of our country. I believe we have skilled teachers who can do that if they are well taken care of. We can even train more teachers to take on this challenge in our schools.

Cyber security is an important growing industry. Countries and organizations are currently spending billions of dollars in an attempt to protect their systems against cyber crimes. Indeed, one of the biggest issues we’re facing today is the critical shortage of qualified cyber security workers in South Sudan and Africa as a whole who can fill the jobs available in both the public and private sectors.

We need to be able to see how coding ties in with cyber security and why is this important right now. Firstly, the demand for cyber security professionals is far greater than the supply and continues to show no signs of abating. With this in mind, it’s a great time to explore a career in cyber security and it’s never too early or late to start.

Having our own cyber security specialists in South Sudan is so critical to our national security and territorial integrity. A cyber security professional has an adversarial mindset, which involves thinking about using protocols and tools in ways that weren’t considered by the designers. When existing tools prove futile to do this, it becomes necessary to be able to write code to test what kind of responses you get to things like a replay of a previous message or sending messages in the wrong order or format. Therefore, it’s very crucial important to have professionals who can write adversarial code and try to prove the correctness of code. Both of these skills will be essential in order to deploy secure systems in the future. We can start by training them right here in our country; in our own schools.

• Privacy, Security and safety:

Coding education also enables students to be logical and persistent, two important skills which are becoming rare in our digital age. In a world where societies try to push the notion that feelings are paramount and everyone’s opinions should be respected, we are likely to have an environment where beliefs aren’t challenged anymore regardless of how nonsensical they may be. This is very dangerous. That’s why persistence is an important skill for young people today. Persistence means you have to keep trying and powering up even through failures and uncertainties. The problem with many in our society today, especially the young people, is that they are trying to do anything to avoid failure – even if it means not trying in the first place.

Coding is important because it’s all around us: the smart phones in our pocket, the remote car keys in our hands, the smart watches on our wrists, the launching of rockets in space, the projector in conference rooms. All these and other examples wouldn’t be possible without coding. Today, all industries are disrupted by software and even if not all of us will become Software Engineers, all of us will be interacting with software in our daily routines. In this case, it becomes so important to understand the foundations of it.

Now let me address the approach that should be used in coding education. You see how we approach coding is so important especially in our contest as South Sudanese. Some of us are well educated today because we were exposed to practice-based education: the do-it-yourself approach. In my college days, and this is what happens in most advanced countries, students are given projects to implement and instructions are made available to get started, but never enough so that they can reach the goal. Students have to learn by reading books, searching on the Internet, chatting with peers and mentors, to learn what ever concept or tool that is needed to complete a given project.

We can adapt this approach here in South Sudan. I have tried it several times and still do it in a number of the programming languages trainings we conduct at Coding Mentorship Initiative.

I firmly believe that when students learn by practicing and working with peers, they develop the set of skills that are needed in the industry. A manager can come to the team with a set of goals to reach, but it’s up to the engineers to find the best solution to the problems and to implement it, and this is exactly what happens in project-based and peer-learning based education.

Students are given challenges to solve in groups and learn from whatever source is accessible, whether it’s books, senior classmates, the Internet or documentation. The mentor is there to guide and support them, but they are the ones to find the answers. This approach helps them develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills as they learn how to learn by themselves and how to collaborate with others.

Finally, I’m sure that now you can clearly see that the benefits of coding education extend well beyond knowing how to create an app or website, and that it’s possible for even students who won’t go on to become programmers or developers to gain valuable 21st century skills that can be transferred to many different areas of their lives. The Government of South Sudan through its line ministries of general education and higher education need to be put in place proper legislation and create conducive environment for incorporating coding into our education system in primary and secondary schools.

Moreover, Institutions of higher learning should put more effort in strengthening departments of computer science and information technology to offer hands-on practice education in coding. I am sure there are partners who are ready to offer technical and financial support to improve technology infrastructure and skilled human resource in the sector. Through this coding education, startups will be born which will reduce the rate of unemployment among youth and improve the economy of our country. Let’s do it.