Mobile device programming is now a required part of the High School curriculum.
Saudi Arabia has added computer programming to its High School curriculum. Starting this year, all High School students will take a course in creating apps for mobile devices.
About 450,000 students will learn programming each year. The vast majority of them have smart devices: iPhones, Android phones, tablet and iPods. Like everywhere, their devices are prized possessions, in use all the time.
The software package used is NSB/AppStudio, from NS BASIC Corporation. It allows students to easily create apps using a visual interface. Programming is in JavaScript or BASIC. Allowing the students to create apps for their own smart devices makes programming a much more relevant and interesting subject.
“The Saudi government has shown great foresight in teaching its students to program.” said George Henne, President of NS BASIC Corporation. “We strongly support education and believe that learning to program should be a core competency for all students. Saudi Arabia is now in the forefront of countries educating their students.”
Training is already underway, with the first class scheduled to complete in January 2015. The Ministry developed its own curriculum in Arabic for the course. The AppStudio IDE was enhanced to provide Arabic language and right-to-left text support.