On June 14th, AmCham Latvia was invited to participate in a discussion "Developing IT education together!" in order to strengthen information technology (IT) industry involvement in the development of education and public institutions, education institutions and companies. The discussion was organized by AmCham member Accenture Latvia.

The goal of the discussion was to agree on a common vision and action plan for the development of IT education in schools.

According to European Union forecasts, by 2020 there will be approximately 900'000 ICT workers in various industries. So, the ICT industry in Latvia should join forces to think about how to increase the number of IT professionals in Latvia.

Starting on September 1, 2015 students in more than 150 mainstream schools in Latvia studied information technology. Within the framework of the first pilot classes, students learned about the digital environment, but with each subsequent school year students learn even more, including programming basics. Information technology classes are based on the social education project Start (IT), which established guidelines developed by a work group of teachers of informatics. Results of the pilot project show that students learned the subject with great interest and enthusiasm. The curriculum not only strengthens digital literacy, but also promotes students ' logical thinking and encourages them to solve problems and not give up at the first difficulty.

The discussion was devoted to the following topical issues:

• Assessment of the situation, tasks for faster development of ICT education in Latvian schools;
• Agreement on a common vision and action plan for the promotion of education in IT;
• Project Start (IT) and IT Education Foundation, vision, goals and objectives.

To view the presentation click here