Seeing a 4-year old using a smartphone to watch Youtube videos is nothing to be shocked by anymore. And why should it be? We are living in the digital age, where you can get your groceries delivered at home with just a tap on your smartphone screen. So it would only make sense if our children are taught how to harness this overabundance of technology and put it to good use for themselves and others. Here are a few reasons why schools should teach tech skills to their students:

  • The world runs on technology

Anywhere you go, technology is prevalent. The Dubai metro system, McDonald’s new screen ordering service, Souq.com and many more. These are a few examples that show us how important technology is nowadays. To survive in this digital age and for a prosperous future, children need to acquire IT skills. Even the most basic of skills such as how to prepare an excel sheet or PowerPoint presentation are important for their professional careers.

  • Opens doors to opportunities

IT skills such as app/website development have a huge positive contribution to professional careers. Your child could dream of being a journalist and with these skills, can set up his/her own website to post their pieces for the world to see at a very young age itself. Even Facebook had come out from the depths of a dorm room in Harvard University, making Mark Zuckerberg an Internet entrepreneur.

  • Improves problem-solving and logic skills

Steve Jobs has said: “Everyone should learn how to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think.” Coding takes a lot of critical thinking and time to be executed accurately. The time that an individual strains on coding will help them exercise logic, problem-solving and organization skills as these are fundamental to programming. Therefore, it will teach your child to make well-thought out decisions, in both professional and personal aspects of their life.

  • Can be an outlet for creativity

Artistic students who like creating and designing can be taught different creative softwares such as Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro (video-editing tool) and even Audacity (sound-editing tool). Students interested in writing or blogging can use WordPress or Wix to create any kind of website and upload articles or images. There are numerous pages on Instagram dedicated to ‘Iphone photography’. These are just a few examples of how technology encourages creativity.

If schools cannot provide apprenticeships, they should at least provide courses or electives that offer IT and tech skills. As parents and teachers of the young generation, we need to equip them with the right tools so that they can create a digitized future for themselves and for the rest of the world too.

Apprenticeship programs are important for your child’s academic development. Make sure this is communicated to parents.

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