3500 students in Chile to access computer science education

To give children every opportunity to succeed in the 21st century, they need computer science.

To give students this chance in Chile, a national initiative, IdeoDigital, was launched last year through a collaboration between Fundación Kodea and the BHP Foundation. Recently Microsoft Chile joined the program to support the inclusion of 3500 students in the borough of San Nicholas, in the South of Chile.

IdeoDigital works with teachers to train and empower them to introduce computer science teaching in their classrooms and Microsoft will help with the training of teachers and support for students up to sixth grade.

"We must create a future where all the schoolchildren in Chile – regardless of their socioeconomic background or type of school they go to – have the opportunity to develop the digital skills that are required for them to participate in the digital society,” said Mónica Retamal, Director at Fundación Kodea.

“If we do not give them this knowledge, they will be left behind". 

Macarena Ramírez, Education Director at Microsoft Chile, explains that this project is at the core of the company’s mission to empower each person and organisation to achieve more.

“With a growing digital economy, driven by the cloud and new technologies that use artificial intelligence, we believe it is necessary to renew our compromise with digital education, so that more and more girls and boys participate in the Digital Revolution”, Macarena explained.

By providing teachers with a friendly learning path based on the Code.Studio platform, the project seeks to embed the discipline of computer science into the school's curriculum – benefitting all students in the future.