President Barack Obama declared on Saturday his plans to supplement the budget with billions of dollars for computer science classes. He will ask Congress for supplementing funds in order to help students prepare for jobs in a changing economy.
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said that computer science has become a necessary skill in the new economy, according to CNET. To date, only one-fourth of K-12 schools offer computer science classes. However, most parents want computer science instruction in order to help their children to develop coding and analytical skills.
Obama explained that in today's economy computer skills are important for any job. For instance, auto mechanics are not just supposed to change the oil but already working on sophisticated computers as tools that help them in their profession. Other careers also require computer skills. For example, machinists are writing computer codes and nurses are managing electronic health records and analyzing data.
The President plans to send Congress a federal budget proposal for 2017 on February 9. According to The Orange County Register, his proposal will ask $100 million for competitive grants for school districts and $4 billion for grants to states over the next three years. The money will be used to organize computer science instruction in elementary, middle and high schools, according to the administration's officials.
Obama declared that he'll also be asking tech entrepreneurs, business leaders, mayors and governors to make lobby for more widespread computer science instruction.
In a separate program, the Corporation for National and Community Service and the National Science Foundation will start spending this year $135 million to train teachers over the next five years.
The president of Microsoft Brad Smith declared on a media call arranged by the White House that, for the next generation of American students, education in computer science is an "economic and social imperative". Smith added that, by the end of the decade, up to a million U.S. technology jobs could be left unfilled in the United States. The nation is moving too slowly in matters of computer science instructions while countries as small as Estonia or as large as China are expanding their programs of computer science education.
