Coding for primary school important for future

Aretha Lee began coding when she was 10 and has won accolades for it.

She was introduced to coding in 2017 when she entered the Code For Fun (CFF) Programme, an optional enrichment programme for primary and secondary school students to learn Computational Thinking through basic coding.

Aretha represented Raffles Girls' Primary School (RGPS) with fellow CFF Programme participant Pay Xinyi in the 2017 annual 3D-Tronics National Infocomm Competition and was first runner-up.

Later that year, the then-10-year-olds teamed up again to compete in the international Micro:bit First Birthday Challenge by The Micro:bit Educational Foundation, a non-profit organisation that aims to inspire children to create their best digital future, and won the prize for best instructions.

Last month, Aretha, 12, teamed up with Megan Lim , a fellow RGPS Primary Six student and CFF Programme participant. They were among 800 Girls' Brigade girls in Singapore who competed in Code to Serve, the first digital competition organised by a uniformed group in Singapore. Aretha and Megan clinched the silver award.

On the importance of learning coding at an early age, Aretha said: "Singapore is becoming a smart nation so it is very important that we keep up... I think it is very important to understand what's going on and use technology to help other people in our society in the future."

Aretha's mother, Ms Ang Lay Lay, a software engineer in her 30s, told The New Paper: "Coding is very useful for kids, with the Internet and technology moving towards Artificial Intelligence.

"It is good to expose them to it from young so they can start to build interest and start to think about the different things they can do and build for society."