Coding as part of the mainstream curriculum

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Ms Tin Pei Ling, MacPherson

Question

To ask the Minister for Education whether coding can be mandated as part of the mainstream curriculum instead of enrichment programmes for students.

Response

1. We recognise the importance of coding in our young people, especially in this digital age. But programming languages can change and become outdated over time. So it is important to focus on the underlying skills such as computational thinking, problem solving, logical reasoning and data handling. These underlying skills are developed through the learning of subjects, particularly mathematics and science. At the same time, we have worked with IMDA to expose all students to basic coding and technology through the ‘Code For Fun’ programme.

2. With a broad base of exposure to basic coding, and with a strong foundation in the underlying skills, students will be able to easily pick up and learn new programming languages as they progress through different stages of their education.