Coded Future - Tech Driven Tomorrow

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This morning, I was on Facebook checking out updates and then I saw a screenshot of a tweet with a young girl and the governor of Lagos State holding a crochet sweater with his face in it.

A quick glance at the tweet informed me that the girl is 21 years old and learned crocheting while in primary school, and although she wanted to be a medical doctor, life happened and she studied home economics instead. Given the current economic situation with unemployment, she developed the crochet skills she learned while at primary school, and thus, it became a source of income for her. Not just that, it also earned her national recognition.

Like this young girl in my story, I also learned crocheting while in primary school, so when I met @abenad, it was easy for me to improve on my crochet skills. While I really don't have the time to crochet on a commercial level, I have made a few bucks from the few projects I have crocheted for people. Interestingly, Abenad also learned crochet as a skill while in primary school, and she has gone ahead to also have it as a side hustle in addition to her jobs.

Now let's get to the prompt.

CODING AND TECH

We all know how important coding is in the world today. So, should coding and programming be made compulsory for every child in school? Letting everyone have even the most basic knowledge of the field before they're old enough to decide their own field of choice.

From my experience, if crochet can be used as a source of income in the later years, think about how much benefit it will bring the economy if coding were to be taught to children in basic education too. I do understand that both aren't the same, but when it comes to life-changing skills one should acquire, they are both in the same category.

We all know how lucrative the Tech industry is and as such, I'm certain that teaching children the basic knowledge of coding and tech will give them a soft landing in their adult years. I read a post on @princessbusayo's experience and how she tried to study tech as an adult who never followed that line from the basic level, and I couldn't help but laugh. Her struggles were not only funny, they were also relatable.

Coding and Tech in general are mentally demanding, but for some people it's a walk in the park because they are a natural. However, if it becomes something taught at the basic level of education, everyone will have a decent knowledge of it to start up later in life if they so please and it will no longer become a struggle for people like me and Princess, lol.

Again, given the current economic situation in my country with unemployment and poverty, the initiative on tech as a basic knowledge for everyone will be a game changer. One of the reasons we have network challenges of late, both in our call service and banking, is because most of the tech gurus have relocated abroad for greener pastures. We have developed countries being what they are today because of how vastly they've innovated in their tech industry.

If the Nigerian government can consider including tech and coding in the curriculum of basic education, I believe it will leapfrog the economy from a struggling agro-based system to one ranking closely with countries in the developed world.