Pope Francis has given his endorsement to a global project led by a Polish tech entrepreneur, Miron Mironiuk, with the aim of promoting computer programming among children.
Mironiuk, the founder of the artificial intelligence company Cosmose AI, has drawn on his own experience to create the “Code with Pope” initiative, which seeks to address educational disparities worldwide.
The initiative provides free online coding education for students aged 11-15 in Europe, Africa, and Latin America, with a focus on attracting Catholic countries.
The program equips children with basic coding skills in Python, one of the world’s most popular programming languages, after 60 hours of dedicated learning.
In today’s digital age, programming skills have become as essential as reading and writing.
Data from the World Economic Forum in 2023 indicated that the majority of the fastest-growing job roles are technology-related.
However, a severe shortage of tech skills globally could result in 85 million job positions going unfilled by 2030.
Increasing access to high-quality programming education is particularly vital in low and middle-income countries, many of which have significant Catholic populations.
Mironiuk, a 33-year-old millionaire, recognizes the importance of extending this opportunity to less fortunate countries.
The “Code with Pope” program will be available in multiple languages, including Spanish, English, Italian, and Polish, and will reach students in South America (excluding Brazil), English-speaking nations in Africa, and South East Asia.
This is not the first time Pope Francis has encouraged young people to engage in coding.
He previously helped write a line of code for a UN initiative in 2019. Mironiuk is set to meet with the Pope at the Vatican and, while not expecting the pontiff to be proficient in Python, anticipates that he will receive a certificate for his efforts in supporting the program.
Source-BBC
