President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg are putting their efforts together in the "Hour of Code" video, which will teach students about computer programming.
Hadi Patrovi, a former Microsoft executive and a technology entrepreneur has raised $10 million from notable personalities like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and more, for Code.org, which is a non-profit organisation primarily aimed at encouraging computer education in the U.S.
On Monday, December 9, Code.org will start its most high-profile events to date Hour of Code. Over 30,000 schools, around 70 percent of them in the U.S., will commit at least one hour during the week to teach students about computer programming.
Several technology leaders, politicians as well as entertainment artists have also contributed video messages for the Hour of Code project.
The technology industry has been complaining of lack of skilled computer programmers. According to the Bureau of Labor, the country's economy is adding around 140,000 computer-based jobs nearly every year. However, data from the National Science Foundation indicates that only 40,000 college students are graduating with a computer science degree each year.
Patrovi suggests that programming skills should help solving the problem. However, regional complexities and lack of skilled programming teachers continue to be an issue. He also indicates that the organization has around $20 million in committed pledges to help Code.org in its plan to coach educators in teaching computer programming. Patrovi adds that that co-operation from schools and states will play an important role for the project.
A problem identified by Patrovi is that many states do not identify computer science as a mathematics or science course but classifies it as an elective. Classifying computer science as a math or science credit may encourage more schools to offer computer science courses and attract more students to take them.
On December 11, Apple is planning to hold an open Hour of Code class at all its stores in the U.S. Microsoft retail Stores in the country will also conduct Hour of Code sessions at various times this week. Google, YouTube Yahoo, Disney are also among those that will feature the Hour of Code on their homepages.
