Youngsters in Jordan are getting an early head-start on their future careers thanks to an Amman-based start-up that’s introducing computer programming courses in the country’s elementary schools, writes Matt Smith.

Founded by mother-of-four Hanan Khader, Hello World Kids has created its own programming language, SmoothY, which is ideally tailored to children’s learning capacity. Pupils master coding in a fun, gamified way by unlocking levels and solving problems to earn points and awards.

Such skills will be vital in tomorrow’s jobs market, with consultants McKinsey & Co warning that automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) could eliminate up to 800 million jobs worldwide by 2030. Conversely, there is a dire shortage of trained programmers, with as many as one million coding jobs going unfilled in United States alone.

Even for children who don’t end up working in IT, learning code has myriad other benefits.

“Coding teaches children problem-solving, analytical skills, computational thinking, and critical thinking skills,” says Khader. “We don’t teach coding as an isolated skill, but as a skill to solve real-world problems.”

Around 82 public schools and 50 private schools in Jordan now teach her company’s coding programme, with 35,000 pupils having completed its courses. Jordan’s education ministry has agreed to incorporate the courses into the school core curriculum, and these will be introduced to all elementary schools over the next five years, said Khader.

Students learn via HelloCode, an interactive online platform that uses storytelling, cartoons, songs and games to teach SmoothY, which uses simplified programming syntax and conventions. As such, it is easy to understand and yet still uses the same logic and precepts of common programming languages, preparing children to later code in the likes of Python and Java.

Through SmoothY, children can make their own applications and computer games. Those aged 5-7 first complete HelloCode Juniors, a three-part course that makes them computer literate, followed by HelloCode Fundamentals, designed for students aged 8-12.

“After completing Fundamentals, children will be ready to learn whatever trending technologies there are worldwide – they know the concepts and semantics of programming languages; they understand how to build technology, so are now free to do whatever they want,” adds Khader.

COMPANY ORIGINS

Khader, who’s a computer programmer by profession, first had the idea for her company in 2013 when her 10-year-old daughter complained how boring school ICT lessons were.

“When I explained to her the concept of a variable, she loved it and wanted to learn more so she could write code.”

That prompted Khader to start simplifying coding concepts for children to understand. She then developed this into a coding course that could be integrated into the school timetable.

“There were a lot of challenges in trying to disrupt a long-established system. First, I had to prove that there really was a simplified way to teach coding to kids,” Khader says, going on to explain that she taught herself about educational practices and how to build a curriculum prior to approaching schools. Her main aim was to demonstrate that coding was different to teaching ICT.

“ICT teaches you how to use a program, I wanted to teach how to create a program.”

In 2014, she held more than 700 meetings with schools and parent groups to explain the benefits of teaching school children how to code. Only one school invited her to stage a pilot course.

“Once the principal said yes, 350 kids learned coding,” says Khader.

With the proof of concept demonstrated, Khader launched her start-up as a for-profit company.

“I wanted to create social impact but with a profitable strategy,” she said. “I gradually built awareness by creating case studies showing the impact of our courses and publicising these through social media. There was scepticism as to whether schoolchildren were capable of learning coding.”

Today, the venture employs 15 full-time staff and offers its courses, available in English and Arabic, worldwide. Hello World Kids has a business-to-business (B2B) offering, selling its services directly to schools, which buy licenses, plus a business-to-consumer service in which parents can buy individual subscription plans for their children.

“The purpose is to train children for the jobs of the future,” concludes Khader. “The demand for programmers will only increase.”