BBC micro:bit. (Source: Les Pounder/flickr)
Last year, the BBC promised to equip U.K. students with micro computers as part of a country-wide program to inspire interest computer engineering, design, and programming in the next generation of web operators. This week, it is making good on its promise.
The news operator noted that it is tardy on its promise, made last May, to give 1 million students micro:bits — small computers aimed at encouraging coding skills. PC World notes that the BBC Micro is an old standard, and “helped Britain come to grips with the first wave of personal computers in the 1980s.”
The program is part of the Make it Digital effort aimed at bolstering the coding interest of the next generation of developers. The micro:bit itself is a “pocket-sized, codable computer that allows children to get creative with technology. Made possible through a major partnership with 28 organisations, up to 1 million micro:bits will be given away, one to every 11 or 12 year old child in year 7 or equivalent across the UK, for free,” according to the BBC.
Many have criticized the U.K.’s government for its sluggish response to the booming internet growth of the past few decades. The country has struggled to understand how to allot spectrum, and has not made the kinds of inroads into building out an internet economy one would expect of a major international power. Prime Minister David Cameron promised late last year that high-speed broadband would be on the table for all citizens by 2020, calling it a “right.”
And, indeed, the BBC has noted that the U.K. is in danger of a “significant skills shortage” over the next five years — a product of the lagging interest in web developing and the lack of encouragement for students to embark on digital careers.
The hope is that these students will carry the U.K. through the next generation of vital web buildout — hopefully better than the current generation has.